A research paper which suggested drilling 58 new gas wells at Whicher Range to optimise production of the gas field has concerned anti-onshore gas activists and farmers.
Lock the Gate coordinator Jane Hammond said the paper ‘Optimization of Infill drilling in Whicher Range Field in Australia’ was presented to the Society of Petroleum Engineers in Saudi Arabia.
The report was put together by a team of academics including three from Curtin University which looked at the various attempts to get gas out of the range.
Ms Hammond said the paper suggested the use of many wells to make up for the low production of individual wells.
“It is classic unconventional gas development and will have a massive footprint on the Whicher Range area, state forest and also possibly farmland.”
Ms Hammond said the conclusions were in contrast to statements by CalEnergy that a maximum of seven gas wells would be needed.
CalEnergy Resources (Australia) Limited corporate integrity and compliance manager Richard Bilman said the report had no relevance to their project.
Mr Bilman said CalEnergy entered the gas field at Whicher Range in 2011 and the company operated the exploration permit 408.
“We are evaluating results from well testing conducted in late 2015 to determine the potential for commercial gas production,” he said.
The Department of Mines industry regulation and safety executive director petroleum Jeff Haworth said CalEnergy had not submitted any plans to the department for 58 wells in the Whicher Range lease area.
Mr Haworth said the company was still assessing work they undertook in 2015.
“The report, ‘Optimization of Infill Drilling in Whicher Range Field in Australia’, which the department had no involvement with, was based on an academic paper by Curtin University presented at a petroleum engineers’ symposium in Saudi Arabia earlier this year,” he said.
“The paper was a theoretical examination of the optimum infill drilling for Whicher Range, and does not consider the practical and commercial realities of drilling such a large number of wells, or whether it is commercially viable.”
Mr Haworth said there currently there were no wells planned in the permit covering Whicher Range.
“No work can be conducted by CalEnergy without prior approval from this department which involves consultation with other agencies,” he said.
“The state government’s policy on fracking is clear – no hydraulic fracture stimulation in the South West, Peel and Perth Metro regions this will apply to any proposed works and any future acreage release will ensure the state government’s policy is met.”
Mr Haworth said a report from an independent study conducted by scientists from University of WA, Curtin University and CSIRO – the Western Australian Energy Alliance (WA:ERA) Report 112 – was very clear that present hydraulic fracture stimulation is not suitable for the geology at Whicher Range.
“The Whicher Range Tight Gas Sands Study 2012 report identified that the hydraulic fracturing process would actually inhibit the extraction of any gas from the particular sands of that area.”
Margaret River landholder Martin Campbell said the paper was concerning and showed the gas industry could not be trusted. Mr Campbell said the Labor Government promised a ban on fracking which had been watered down to just the actual event of fracturing.
“What we are likely to see now is fracking by stealth, with the companies saying they will not frack but instead using other risky methods to get the gas out of the ground,” he said. “This report should sound the alarm bells across the South West and beyond.”
The researchers did not respond by the time of publication.
