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Australian Energy Producers Journal Australian Energy Producers Journal Society
Journal of Australian Energy Producers
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Fraccing forum

Maxwell Williamson
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Wiltax Consulting Pty Ltd

The APPEA Journal 56(1) 51-64 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ15005
Published: 2016

Abstract

There have been 13 major inquiries completed during the past few years that have addressed the issue of hydraulic fracture stimulation (fraccing) in Australia. There are two inquiries due to report before mid-2016; namely in SA (Natural Resources Committee, Parliament of South Australia, 2015), and the Senate Inquiry (Parliament of Australia, 2015). These inquiries are in addition to many others conducted in overseas jurisdictions including various states of the US, Canada, and in countries in the European Union, including the UK. Concerns are usually concluded around ensuring there is a proper regulatory environment to confirm that the use of fraccing is conducted using international best practices, and the risk to the environment is minimised. In each and every responsible inquiry the conclusion has been that there is no scientific or public policy reason that would justifiably prevent the use of fraccing as a pre-well completion stimulation technique.

This paper attempts to synthesise basic data about fraccing—why the ability to fracture stimulate wells is no longer a luxury but a necessity in deep oil and gas production—to convey factual information and summarise the results of inquiries in Australia to date.

Comparisons between hydraulic fracture stimulation operations and results in the US and Australia are intended to provide comfort that some of the potentially more intense (massive) hydraulic fracture stimulation operations routinely conducted in the US (and Canada) on an individual well basis are not contemplated in the immediate future in Australia. The scale of North American fraccing activities may bear little resemblance to what may be proposed or occur in Australia owing to fundamental differences in geology, basin stress regimes, infrastructure, and cost and logistics, among other factors.

The author’s conclusion is that fraccing in Australia can and will be carried out in a sphere of safety and regulation that many other countries are likely to aspire to copy. It would, however, be foolish to suggest hydraulic fracturing operations are not without some risk, as with many industrial and other daily activities, but the risks can be managed or mitigated with sound engineering and scientific practices. This is irrespective of the messages by opponents of hydraulic fracture stimulation in oil and gas wells. The modern practice of fraccing has been used now for more than 65 years, albeit with increasing scale commensurate with technological advances, which has caught the public’s imagination. Indeed, the results of inquiries have given no credence to demonising the technology.

Max Williamson is a Chartered Accountant with 50 years of industry experience. He has consulted to the extractive industries as a tax adviser and consultant for more than 40 years. Max now operates exclusively through his niche practice company, Wiltax Consulting Pty Ltd.

Max has been a member of PESA for more than 30 years. He has been on the NSW Committee for more than 20 years, including as NSW President for two years, Federal President for two years, Immediate Past President for a year, and Federal Treasurer (under John Carmody) for two years.

His qualifications also include Fellow of Certified Practicing Accountants (CPA), The Tax Institute, Governance Institute of Australia, and Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FINSIA).

wiltaxconsulting@bigpond.com