Rehabilitation challenges for the onshore coal seam gas sector in Australia
James Purtill A * and Louisa Nicolson BA
B
James Purtill is the Queensland Mine Rehabilitation Commissioner. Prior to this role he held several positions as Director-General of Queensland state government departments. James holds a BSc (Hons, UNSW) and an MBA (UQ). |
Louisa Nicolson is Technical Lead in the Office of the Queensland Mine Rehabilitation Commissioner. She leads the OQMRC’s leading practice advice, preparation of technical papers and technical advice to the Minister for Environment. Louisa holds an MSc (UNE), BSc (CQU) and a Grad Dip (QUT). |
Abstract
The development of conventional oil and gas reserves followed by valorisation of coal seam gas (CSG) reserves in Queensland has seen the installation of over 16,000 wells. These wells are accompanied by thousands of kilometres of gathering lines, compression and water treatment facilities and transmission pipelines. The major rehabilitation challenges for the industry result less from technical challenges but rather from the sheer scale of the task. At present, the CSG industry continues to grow, and few of the CSG wells (other than exploration and appraisal wells) have yet reached the end of their life. The US experience presents a cautionary tale for adequate financial provisioning to mitigate the risks of orphaned wells. Secondly, the rehabilitation of multiple small parcels of land such as drill pads presents logistical challenges. Strategies to aggregate parcels for relinquishment will be required if the industry is to avoid thousands of individual land parcel evaluations at the time of relinquishment. These two rehabilitation challenges will be explored, risks for the industry and community assessed, and a call made for industry and government to work collaboratively to ensure an orderly and responsible rehabilitation program becomes an integral part of ongoing operations.
Keywords: coal seam gas, decommissioning, financial provisioning, onshore oil and gas, plug and abandon, Queensland, rehabilitation.
James Purtill is the Queensland Mine Rehabilitation Commissioner. Prior to this role he held several positions as Director-General of Queensland state government departments. James holds a BSc (Hons, UNSW) and an MBA (UQ). |
Louisa Nicolson is Technical Lead in the Office of the Queensland Mine Rehabilitation Commissioner. She leads the OQMRC’s leading practice advice, preparation of technical papers and technical advice to the Minister for Environment. Louisa holds an MSc (UNE), BSc (CQU) and a Grad Dip (QUT). |
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