What is coal seam gas (CSG)?

The development of Australia’s CSG reserves offers an unparalleled economic and environmental opportunity.

 

CSG is a form of natural gas (methane) found in coal seams, rather than in the sandstone reservoirs that hold conventional natural gas. As an end-use product, CSG is the same as gas produced from other kinds of reservoirs; it is used to generate electricity and to power natural gas appliances such as heaters and stoves.

Extracting water from coal seams depressurises them so that gas can be produced.

If you live in Queensland and have gas at home, there's a good chance you'll use CSG to boil the kettle for your next pot of tea as it makes up more than 90% of the state's gas supply. New South Wales also has enormous CSG reserves, but the NSW industry is far less developed than Queensland's.

Known reserves of CSG in Queensland and NSW are so large that liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants are now being developed. Geoscience Australia has estimated the CSG resources in Queensland alone hold more than 250 trillion cubic feet of gas; this is enough to power a city of 1 million people for 5000 years and more than enough to feed Australia's domestic and export CSG projects for many decades to come.

APPEA has produced printable fact sheets on the CSG industry, CSG production, the industry's economic benefit, environmental performance, fraccing, groundwater and salt management, as well as the movie Gasland.

For an overview of recent CSG industry statistics, click here.