Boom is getting ahead of itself, says Woodside chief

The Woodside chief executive, Peter Coleman, concedes Australia's coal seam gas boom may have got ahead of regulators and the community.

As head of Australia's largest oil and gas company, and operator of the North West Shelf, Mr Coleman is more than a bystander.

During its earnings presentation last month, there was much speculation that Woodside, which has concentrated on conventional offshore plays, might be looking at unconventional opportunities onshore, including coal seam gas or shale gas. Mr Coleman acknowledged unconventional gas was ''a very large resource, and we can't ignore that resource''.

In a later interview with the Herald, Mr Coleman observed coal seam gas was ''growing very fast in Australia. It appears that, as things grow that quickly, regulation and communities need to be able to catch up with that.

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The Age