Starting the week of May 23, the first of 14 wells and over 45 groundwater monitoring bores will be sealed off and the sites rejuvenated. With some of the monitoring stations to be retained for use by landowners and NSW Office of Water.

AGL will be using high pressure concrete to fill the gaps in the coal seams, layer by layer, before capping off the end of the well. Some wells have residual fracking water which has not been removed due to the slow rate of extraction flow. AGL will not close off these wells without the final sign off by the Environmental Protection Authority, to ensure no long term environmental impact.

Once all the equipment is removed, the land will be returned to its original state. AGL is also required to remove any improvements made to the land, like roads and bridges, unless the landowner wishes to keep them.    

This is the beginning of the final stages of AGL’s removal of exploration in the Gloucester basin since announcing its decision to cease operation in February of this year. A process due to be completed by January 2017.

Related: No more CSG operations for Gloucester with AGL citing disappointing flows from test well and economic modelling click here

Related: AGL boss abandons coal seam gas for a renewable future click here