The review of the company’s upstream gas business will examine the management structure and practices to ensure AGL can “deliver on its goals of safely exploring for and producing gas resources for AGL’s customers”, AGL said in a statement on Wednesday.

As a result, the man overseeing the company’s coal seam gas projects has left the company, effective immediately.

Mike Moraza, AGL’s general manager of Upstream Gas, was a prominent figure during the approvals process for the Gloucester Gas Project and subsequent operations including the recent fracking of four wells as part of the company’s Waukivory Pilot Project.

AGL announced to the Australian Stock Exchange late last year that Mr Moraza planned to retire from the company at the end of March.

But in a statement released late on Wednesday AGL said Mr Moraza had left the company early.

“The gas business has the potential to provide vital gas resources for our NSW customers and is set to contribute significantly to our balance sheet and deliver solid returns for our shareholders,”  Andy Vesey, AGL’s new managing director, said.

“It is important that we get the structure right.”

Mr Vesey took control of AGL last week from outgoing chief executive Michael Fraser.

Scott Thomas, the general manager of coal-fired power unit AGL Macquarie, will replace Mr Moraza in an acting capacity from Monday.

The review is expected to take three months, an AGL spokeswoman said.

AGL’s Gloucester Gas Project has been beset by problems in recent weeks.

Gloucester Shire Council yesterday (Wednesday) voted to exclude the company from meetings of the Gloucester Dialogue following issues of transparency and disclosure.

The company suspended its operations in Gloucester after the discovery of hazardous BTEX chemicals at its Waukivory site in mid-January.

AGL was heavily criticised by the Environment Protection Authority and council for its handling of the BTEX issue after it emerged the company did not inform either a meeting of the Dialogue or the environmental watchdog of the breach until nearly two weeks after it occurred.

A joint investigation into the chemical breach by the EPA and the Department of Resources and Energy is expected to conclude as early as the end of this week.

It has also emerged that AGL no longer has any where to dispose of waste water from its fracking activities.  

Worth Recycling, based near Windsor, has told Hawkesbury City Council it will not accept further coal seam gas flowback water shipments from the company, the council’s general manager told Fairfax Media.

AGL was forced to divert tankers carrying waste water from Gloucester to the Hawkesbury region in December after reports in the Newcastle Herald alerted Hunter Water that its network was being used to discharge the water after processing.

Hunter Water had told both AGL and its contractor, Transpacific Industries, not to bring the waste water to its region.