Coal seam gas bonanza not for all  

The Australian has a report on some of the concerns being raised about the coal seam gas boom in Queensland - Methane bonanza not for all.

WHILE international business is starting to take a closer interest in Queensland's fledgling liquefied natural gas industry, farmers on the Darling Downs, where the gas will be extracted, don't see much upside in having 30,000 oil wells springing up in their paddocks.

There are four big proposals for extraction of coal seam methane gas, predominantly from the western Darling Downs region. These proposals involve piping the gas to Gladstone, where it is liquefied before being exported.

Energy giants British Gas and Santos have projects under examination, and this week Shell sought to increase its presence by making a takeover offer for Origin Energy, which has vast reserves of coal-seam methane on the downs in the area known as the Surat Basin.

The Queensland government talks longingly of how LNG can save the Queensland economy. Premier Anna Bligh and Treasurer Andrew Fraser say the industry can bring 18,000 jobs, investment of $40 billion, an increase of $3bn in gross state product, and $850 million in royalties alone each year.

All this plus a better environmental outcome, as gas-fired power stations are considerably more greenhouse-friendly than coal-fired ones.

Origin Energy's gas-fired power station on the Darling Downs is due to be commissioned over the next few months.

But what the politicians and the big companies are coy about is the effect all this activity will have on the land from which the coal-seam gas is extracted. Having four LNG projects go ahead in Gladstone will mean that about 30,000 small wells will have to be dug back in the Surat Basin west of Brisbane.

Each well will occupy an area of about 20sq m on the ground, and these 30,000 wells will have to be linked by a network of pipelines, with two pipes to carry away the water and the gas that is extracted.

From the wells, each company will have several smaller processing plants that will undertake a preliminary refining of the gas before it is put into a larger pipeline that runs north, away from crowded southeast Queensland and towards the coast at the port of Gladstone, where the north side of the harbour has been set aside as the designated LNG refining area.

There are two main areas where the gas will be extracted, the Surat Basin and the Bowen Basin, west of Gladstone.

While few of the 30,000 wells are on quality agricultural land, farmers are still worried about their impact. It's not only the wells and pipes (which will be underground), it's also the roads and tracks that need to be built to service the wells.