NEW PLAYER: An Australian shale gas industry would involve fracking of an estimated 150,000 wells. Source: Bloomberg
THE coal seam gas industry that caused huge controversy in Queensland could be soon dwarfed by a new player that could be six times bigger.
But the advent of shale gas could bring with it increased earthquake activity and a need for an amount of fresh water equivalent to Melbourne's annual consumption.
A report by stockbroker JP Morgan said while CSG has an issue with extracting too much water from underground, shale gas needs up to 11 million litres of water for each well.
"Potentially the volume of fresh water required if recycling is not used could be in the order of 225 gigalitres to 450GL," the report said.
It said every one of the 150,000 wells across Australia that shale gas would need would have to be fracked, a process of fracturing rock with small explosions and injecting fluids and sands into the cracks, raising the possibility of tremors.
"Seismic activity has been linked to hydraulic fracturing. As all shale gas extraction uses fracking, the seismic risk may be greater for shale than CSG," the report said.
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The Courier Mail
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