THE state's former agriculture minister believes many of the expired exploration licences covering the state won't have a future based on recent state government decisions.
Former NSW Nationals deputy leader Niall Blair said recent decisions on land-use conflicts bode in favour of people calling for the expired petroleum exploration licences (PELs) to be extinguished.
"There's nothing worse than a former politician offering advice on what other politicians should do, so I will resist that," Mr Blair said.
"However, I think the message has been pretty loud and clear in relation to some of the land-use conflicts of late in that the government has opted to buy out some of the more contentious licences in the best interest of particularly the farming sector.
"I think if you just take that as a rule, then the government has probably got a good signal that the ones that have expired probably don't have much of a future."
The zombie exploration licences stretch from the Hunter Region right up to the Queensland border.
Last year's approval of the Narrabri Gas Project sparked fresh fears the PELs would be reinstated.
