No hydraulic fraccing at Metgasco wells

CASINO-based gas exploration company Metgasco does not use hydraulic fraccing to extract coal seam gas from its production wells on the Northern Rivers, a public meeting in Casino on Monday night was told.

Instead the company uses a horizontal drilling technique to extract both natural gas and methane from its wells.

In response to a question from the audience, the company’s chief financial officer, Glenda McLoughlin, said the company did not use any poisonous additives or chemicals in its drilling and extraction process.

More than 220 people, many from outside the Casino area and clearly opposed to the coal seam gas industry, attended the meeting at the Casino RSM Club which was organised by the Casino Rotary Club.

Chairman Tony Hennessey, a former Rotary governor in Tasmania, stressed at the beginning that the meeting was not a political forum and maintained a tight control over proceedings, requiring audience members to state their names, addresses and affiliations before asking a question from the floor.

Two question and answer sessions were held as part of the meeting, with people limited to one question per session.

However, audience members were encouraged to speak directly with four Metgasco employees Ms Glenda McLoughlin, general manager of exploration Peter Stanmore, operations manager Aiden Stewart, and chief operations officer Mick O’Brien – after the final question and answer session.

The meeting began with a brief introduction by Metgasco managing-director David Johnson, followed by explanations from the Metgasco staff about the company’s operations and set up, the exploration and extraction processes, the company’s planned developments, and its environmental protocols and credentials.

Ms McLoughlin told the meeting all of Metgasco’s access agreements with farmers and landholders were voluntary and the company was committed to working closely with landholders and conducting its operations in an open and transparent manner.

However, she would not give a direct yes or no answer when asked whether Metgasco would force landholders, who did not wish to have wells or pipelines on their property, to comply.

She repeated that all of Metgasco’s access agreements with farmers and landholders were voluntary.

Again in response to a question from the floor, Ms McLoughlin said Metgasco had not finalised a starting point or definitive route for a proposed gas pipeline along the Lions Road to south-east Queensland.

Concerns about the impact of drilling and gas extraction on ground water supplies were also raised, with Mr O’Brien saying none of Metgasco’s wells had tapped any groundwater supplies currently in use.

He also said the quality of the water produced in the drilling and extraction process locally was generally much higher than that produced in coal seam gas fields in Queensland and could, in some cases, be used for irrigation and stock purposes.

Mr O’Brien said that because the NSW coal seam gas industry was 10 years behind the rest of Australia and the world, it had the advantage of being able to pick and chose from the best water use and disposal methods from around the world.

Again in response to a question from the floor, Ms McLoughlin said Metgasco was happy to have an ongoing community consultation process and urged people with questions or concerns to call into the company’s Casino office and speak directly with staff or correspond via email.