Application and regulation of hydraulic stimulation across the states and territories

Abstract

Hydraulic stimulation, to increase the productivity of petroleum and geothermal wells, has been applied onshore in Australia for more than 50 years.

While most states and territories have employed hydraulic stimulation, the most significant application has been in SA and Queensland, driven by the development of significant gas resources in the Cooper-Eromanga and Bowen-Surat provinces. In Queensland, some 500 wells have been hydraulically stimulated in the past five years, driven by the appraisal and development of coal seam gas (CSG) resources.

As global and domestic demand for natural gas continues to grow, and in light of the recent start-up of Queensland’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, industry will continue to optimise discovered resources while identifying new supply in under-explored basins and plays.

Australia has substantial onshore prospective and contingent gas resources, a significant proportion of which are held in shale and tight sands. Commercialising this gas, at volumes sufficient to underpin associated major investment, will require the extensive application of hydraulic stimulation.

The federal government and all states and territories bar Queensland have completed independent or parliamentary inquiries into hydraulic stimulation or unconventional gas development in general. A moratorium on hydraulic stimulation presently exists in Victoria and Tasmania.

This paper summarises the historic application of hydraulic stimulation onshore Australia, the legislation presently in place to regulate and manage the activity, and a hypothetical scenario of the application of hydraulic stimulation to explore for and develop shale and tight gas resources at a field scale.