Arrow Confirms Toxins In Water Samples Around Moranbah Gas Project
18 November 2010 - 9:49AM
Dow Jones News
PetroChina Co. (PTR) and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB)-owned
Arrow Energy has confirmed the existence of petroleum-related
toxins in water samples around its Moranbah Gas Project, a coal
seam gas development project in Queensland's Bowen Basin.
In a statement, the company said that secondary testing after
initial tests last week had re-confirmed the existence of trace
amounts of the BTEX group of chemicals in three wells in the
northern Bowen Basin, two of which are within the Moranbah
project.
The toxins--mainly benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and
xylenes--are a major contaminant of oil and gas sites. Local
farmers have objected to development of coal seam gas in Queensland
and New South Wales states due to concerns about by-products
contaminating groundwater.
Arrow said the BTEX chemicals were in trace amounts, between one
and three parts per billion, and that it hadn't introduced them to
the groundwater through its drilling activities.
"Arrow has not used chemicals containing benzene (or any other
members of the BTEX group of chemicals) in its fraccing fluids.
More detailed testing is already underway to identify if the
chemical is naturally occurring or introduced by another means,"
Arrow said in a statement.
Fraccing fluids are used in unconventional gas projects to
release natural gas that would otherwise be trapped inside
underground rocks.
Arrow added that it had advised Queensland's Department of
Environment & Resource Management that "due to the very low
levels detected and the isolation of the wells, any risk to public
health is unlikely".
Water from the wells was put into special treatment or removal
ponds and there are no registered bores within at least 5
kilometers of the wells, Arrow said.
AGL Energy Ltd. (AGK.AU) is a joint venture partner in the
Moranbah project.
-By David Fickling, Dow Jones Newswires; +61 2 8272 4689; david.fickling@dowjones.com
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