Plans must be signed off by the EPA and landholders, and AGL properties will need to be offloaded.

The EPA said it will “play a vital role in ensuring that the decommissioning of the Gloucester Gas Project meets all relevant legal requirements including strict environmental rehabilitation standards.”

Decommissioning is undertaken to standards set in the NSW Government’s Code of Practice for Coal Seam Gas (Well Integrity). The code of practice requires that coal seam gas well decommissioning ensures “the environmentally sound and safe isolation of the well, protection of groundwater resources, isolation of the productive formations from other formations, and the proper removal of surface equipment.”

AGL’s plan will remove the wellhead to place purpose-specific cement inside the well in stages from the bottom to the top. The impermeable cement seals the wellbore and adds to the integrity of the well casing which already has several layers of steel and cement. The well casing is cut off at least 1.5 metres below the surface so that it does not interfere with agricultural and other future land uses . A steel cap, containing data such as the name of the well, the exact location, the well depth and when it was decommissioned, is attached to the top of the casing. This information is recorded by the NSW Government so that accurate records can be maintained. The site is rehabilitated to the satisfaction of the land owner and our licence requirements.

A public meeting will be held on February 16 in Gloucester to discuss the rehabilitation and AGL's withdrawal from Gloucester. Venue TBA.