PESA ACT/NSW February Twilight Talk

Onshore Gippsland CSG Potential – Myth or Massive?

The onshore Gippsland hydrocarbon province has always been a poor cousin to the prolific offshore discoveries of gas and oil. It has been, however, the powerhouse of Victoria driven by the huge open-cut brown coal deposits in the Latrobe Valley. Following conventional gas discoveries in the Strzelecki Group at Trifon, Gangell and Wombat, attention turned to the shallower, but deeper than the mined seams, Traralgon brown coals as candidates for methane extraction from immature, wet lignite.

Early test drilling was carried out in 2005, but when Exxon entered the area in 2012, the press perception of easily extracted gas gained widespread publicity in the national press. This presentation describes the technical history of exploration for brown coal CSG, compared with the public perception of its potential and with the added complication of Victorian Government reaction and legislation.