The Pilliga versus coal seam gas: in photos

These photographs were taken during a trip to the Pilliga on Friday 16 December 2011.

This coal seam gas site in the Pilliga is known as the Narrabri Gas Project and is run by Santos on an exploration licence (PEL 238). Some of the coal seam gas wells are operating under pilot production. Gas extracted from wells in the Pilliga is pipelined to Wilga Park power station, located around 12 kilometres west of Narrabri.

Driving down the Newell Highway, behind the trees on either side of the road are numerous gas wells, holding ponds, treatment facilities, demountable work spaces and kilometres of pipeline… together making up Santos’ Narrabri Gas Project.

Drill rig, that way.

This is Tony Pickard, he knows the way around the bush and the CSG project better than anyone, probably even the miners. Tony is a farmer and Pilliga local.

This is a well pad that is no longer used. The area is part way through the rehabilitation phase. The holding ponds that once sat beside the well have been filled in, explained Tony. It is not known how long it will remain in this condition.

Crumbling chunks like this are found all around unused well pads. We are told this is pumped down the unused well as part of the rehabilitation process.

Around almost all of the well pad sites we saw there was a ring of dead trees. Tony calls this the “kill zone”. This fungi is the only thing growing in the space surrounding a site that was in recent years home to an unlined pond that would hold waste coal seam gas water.

A common site amongst the trees of the Pilliga, another unused coal seam gas well pad.

We are told this is the last remaining unlined coal seam gas water holding pond. While this well is no longer used (the water that it holds is from recent rain), the pond sits waiting to be filled in.

Fencing around the newer coal seam gas well pads is an improvement on that around the initial exploration wells dropped by Eastern Star Gas. Formerly flimsy wire fences, the sites are now surrounded by more sturdy fence posts, trimmed with barbed wire.

This is a newer well pad and one currently in use. Note the surface footprint of the single well, not on par with an open-cut, but hardly slight.

Land clearing and gas extracting, this is coal seam gas exploration in the Pilliga.

Treated coal seam gas water is pumped out of this pipe into the local river system.

Water produced by coal seam gas operations is treated at processing facilities in the Pilliga, before and after the treatment process the water is held in giant ponds. This is one of the ponds.

A coal seam gas water holding pond.

A work site in the Pilliga, between a water holding pond and a flare site.

This is a flare, “the flare burns gas that cannot be used commercially or economically piped for use elsewhere, or gas that needs to be released for safety reasons,” learn more about flaring here (pdf).

The land that Santos operates its Narrabri Gas Project on is largely Crown Land. It is open to the public, except for fenced off project sites. Despite this, the miners don’t like visitors, as on my other trips out to the Pilliga, we were followed by several different vehicles marked with the Eastern Star Gas branding. The uniformed gas company workers took down our vehicle registration details and filmed us on their phones.

Forest versus coal seam gas.

See more photos from my trip here on Flickr.

The Narrabri Gas Project was initially a joint venture between Eastern Star Gas (ESG), who held majority interest, and Santos. ESG was wholly acquired by Santos in July this year and now the project in the Pilliga is owned and run entirely by Santos. More details about the acquisition are here.

The Pilliga is in northern NSW, click here to see a map of its location, and nearby towns include Coonabarabran and Narrabri.

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I’ve been on a few other trips to the Pilliga: click here to see photos from my first trip around the CSG project, click here to see photos of the ‘Stop CSG’ banner drop direct action, click here to see photos of the nearby sandstone caves.

Santos are currently working through the state government approvals process seeking to move the Narrabri Gas Project into full production with over 1000 coal seam gas wells.

A report produced by a coalition of environment groups including The Wilderness Society and the Nature Conservation Council of NSW identified the Pilliga as an “icon under threat” as a result of this coal seam gas project proposal, click here to read the report and find out more.