Age
19 August 2011, Page: 8
ONE of Australia's top energy chiefs has conceded that there is still significant uncertainty about emissions from coal seam gas, as controversy continues to plague the fledgling industry. The concession by Origin Energy CEO Grant King came amid disputed claims over carbon emissions released by CSG, and as a gas conference in Sydney was marred by protests.
Greens MPs have challenged the conventional wisdom that gas gives off about half as much greenhouse gas as coal when burned for fuel. They claim the release of "fugitive" emissions under coal seam gas extraction renders gas almost as polluting as coal once the "full life cycle" is considered.
Mr King said there was no doubt that conventional gas was less polluting than coal, but conceded that evidence about the pollution rates from CSG was "less readily available". "This is in part because interest in the issue has only arisen recently and in part because actual results will vary according to specific plant and equipment being used by different owners and operators along the supply chain", he said.
Woodside Petroleum chief executive Peter Coleman said he was yet to see a business case that could lure the Perth company into alternative forms of gas such as CSG. But after years working in the US for Exxon-Mobil, Mr Coleman said he had noticed that communities were less hostile to alternative forms of gas when landowners shared in the rewards. WA Premier Colin Barnett has suggested that close to half Australia's power needs should be generated by gas, but Mr Coleman said that was unlikely to happen until the domestic market was willing to pay as much for gas as export markets were.
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