Page 10 - AsianOil Week 17

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impact of fracking on coal seams in Queens- land’s Surat Basin.
Nothing to see here
CSIRO’s Gas Industry Social and Environmental Research Alliance (GISERA) studied the drilling practice and found that “hydraulic fracturing in Queensland has found little to no impacts on air quality, soils, groundwater and waterways”.
The investigation also found that current water treatment technology used for water pro- duced from CBM wells was effective in remov- ing fracking chemicals within water quality guidelines.
The agency noted that its research objectives had been developed “in response to community concerns about the potential for chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations to affect air quality, soils and water resources”. To this end, the study analysed samples taken before, during and up to six months after fracking operations had been carried out at six Surat Basin wells.
GISERA director Damian Barrett said the research was an Australian first, providing unique insights into the impacts of domestic fracking. Barrett said: “Previously, the only information about hydraulic fracturing was from overseas studies in quite different shale gas formations.”
Australian Minister for Resources Keith Pitt said the new report should pave the way for fur- ther investment in gas exploration and develop- ment across Australia.
“It found that best practice fracking operations that have been adopted in the Basin had little to no environmental impact, even water produced directly from the wells showed no chemical resi- dues above normal background levels within 40 days of the fracking operation taking place,” he said. “It dispels the misinformation anti-gas activ- ists have been spreading about the CSG industry, which is poised to deliver thousands of new jobs and millions of dollars in new revenue.”
The continued potential for investment in the sector was highlighted by the Arrow joint ven- ture’s decision on April 17 to green light the first phase of the Surat gas project.
The project aims to produce up to 90bn cubic feet (2.5bn cubic metres) per year of CBM, with the gas flowing to the Royal Dutch Shell-led QGC, which supplies both the domestic and international markets. QGC operates an 8.5mn tonne per year (tpy) LNG terminal on Curtis Island, near Gladstone, as well as gas production and processing facilities in the Surat Basin.
The Surat gas project is anticipated to pro- duce around 5 trillion cubic feet (142 bcm) of gas over its lifetime.
What next
ExxonMobil, Woodside Petroleum and Santos have already announced plans to scale back upstream investment and defer projects in order to ensure they are strong enough to ride out the current industry downturn. A few rungs below them and Beach Energy has said it will cut back its spending in financial year 2020-2021. In the immediate run up to early March’s oil price crash, Equinor said it would not proceed with its deepwater drilling plans in the Great Australian Bight. The Norwegian company said lower oil prices had rendered the project “not commer- cially competitive”.
Companies looking to invest in new Austral- ian projects could well be the exception rather than the rule in the year ahead, as budget ration- alisation and greater operational efficiencies become corporate buzzwords. In such an envi- ronment, Santos’ desire to invest and CSIRO’s compelling new research suggest that the odds of Narrabri receiving government approval in the near future are better than fair.
As for the rest of the sector, projects not already in the final stages of planning are unlikely to be pursued until business conditions do improve.™
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 17 30•April•2020