THE 2,060 known coal seam gas wells in Australia seems insignificant compared with Canada’s 210,000 shallow wells.
But the Canadian experience, and fact that the number of wells in Queensland alone is expected to reach 40,000 over the next few years, offers Australia significant opportunities, according to Airwell Pumps managing director Alan Brown.
Mr Brown says we should learn from Canada and implement infrastructure that will enable us to benefit from the wells beyond the immediate future.
Airwell Pumps will install the first of four pumps in trials at Westside Corporation’s coal seam gas wells in Queensland at the end of January, which is the same technology Airwell is currently trialling on Canada’s shallow gas wells.
Mr Brown said his experience in Canada showed that forward planning was critical, because if liquid was kept off shallow gas wells they could produce gas for a very long period of time.
“Naturally on the east coast there’s going to be some enormous environmental debates yet to be had,” Mr Brown said.
“The farmers are pretty upset at this point in time that the big energy companies are proposing to run away with their properties and put gas wells all over the place.
“I’m sure that eight or 10 years ago they had those same debates in Canada; the Canadian farmers we deal with up there are just as fond of their high-producing farmland as we are here, but interestingly enough when we work in the country towns in Canada we get asked all the time, ‘how are you going, is this going to work’?
“They are desperate to see a solution to the liquid loading problem because to a large extent they’ve got over being worried about the gas wells all over their properties.
“Now they can remember how much work it’s brought to their area and they don’t mind the royalties they get paid either. So it will be interesting to see if in 10 years time you see the same level of acceptance in Australia to this new industry that clearly has been there.”
Mr Brown said it was critical the gas lines that distributed the small amount of gas needed to power the positive displacement pumps his company manufactured were installed at the same time as the gas gathering lines to prevent the farmers’ paddocks from having to be disturbed more than once, which was what was happening in Canada.