Coal seam gas water - an environmental perspective ...

Excerpt from an article by Clayton Utz:

5 October 2007

Coal seam gas is held in coal by burial pressure and water. Typically, extracting CSG involves reducing the pressure by initially pumping out water with gas flowing subsequently. Thus water is a primary by-product of CSG development.

While the production of water, termed associated water, will decline during the life of a CSG well, significant volumes of water can be produced - an average CSG well in Queensland’s Surat Basin can extract between 140,000 and 470,000 litres of water per day during dewatering and an average well in the Bowen Basin can extract between 80,000 and 160,000 litres a day.

See - Australia: Coal Seam Gas And Associated Water Production - An Environmental Perspective.