Origin stops coal seam gas drilling after chemicals found in water

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This was published 13 years ago

Origin stops coal seam gas drilling after chemicals found in water

By Ben Cubby

Farmers near a coal seam gas ''fracking'' site in Queensland will have their water supplies tested for toxic benzene and other chemicals today after Origin Energy found contaminated water near drilling sites.

The discovery of BTEX - a mixture of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene - around eight coal seam gas wells near Miles, west of Brisbane, marks the first time a resources company has admitted to contaminating water at a fracking site.

Origin detected the chemicals a week ago and told the Queensland government - which is legislating to ban the use of BTEX chemicals during coal seam gas drilling - on Friday.

Most landholders in the area have been notified of the contamination. There is no known impact on drinking water in the gas field. Origin has shut down all 17 of its drilling rigs across a 40-kilometre-wide area while an investigation is carried out.

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, involves injecting water, sand and chemicals underground to fracture rock formations and force gas to the surface.

The controversial process has fuelled protests from landholders in Australia and the United States, where government tests have detected harmful levels of hydrocarbons, including BTEX, in drinking water wells in areas where fracking is used.

Origin refused to disclose the mixture of chemicals used in the fracking fluid that it was using on the site. The US company Halliburton supplied the fluids.

But Origin's manager of oil and gas operations, Paul Zealand, said BTEX was not being used as a fracking fluid.

''This is a real surprise to us because we have been using chemicals which are free of BTEX,'' Mr Zealand said.

''Having found these traces in our samples, I think it's incumbent on us to stop drilling while we do the investigation.

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''It's not because of any concerns about risks to health or waterways or livestock. There is no risk,'' he said. ''We are testing water bores over a wide area but I stress that there's no possibility it could find its way into bores.''

The contamination may have come from diesel fuel or lubricants used on machinery at the gas drilling sites. An engineering consultancy, URS, and the government will investigate.

Opponents of coal seam gas drilling in Australia say the contamination does not bode well.

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''We are continually being told that the process is safe but … we can't get any information out of the companies,'' said a spokesman for the Hunter Valley Protection Alliance, John Thomson.

The group is staging a protest against coal seam gas drilling in Martin Place today.

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