The Federal Government has announced it will move to improve measurement and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from coal seam gas exploration and production.

In a discussion paper released earlier this week, the Government sets out a number of proposals to introduce CSG-specific measurement and estimation methods into the nation’s greenhouse gas reporting framework. 

Federal Minister for Climate Change, Greg Combet, said that the discussion paper was released in response to industry, expert and community feedback on methods for calculating the amount of “fugitive” emissions of methane released during CSG extraction and production.

“The discussion paper proposes improving existing methods for directly measuring emissions from core CSG extraction and production activities, by drawing on the latest approaches adopted in the United States,” Mr Combet said.

The the proposals in the discussion paper, it will become mandatory for CSG facilities who use hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, technology to use direct measurement rather than alternative methods for estimating vented fugitive emissions from well completions and workovers.

The new direct measurement methods would be available from 1 July 2013. They would become mandatory for facilities using fracking from 1 July 2015.

“This work has included commissioning a review of international best practice in CSG emissions estimation, considering submissions from stakeholders, and commencing a research project with the CSIRO to measure emissions from CSG production operations in New South Wales and Queensland,” Mr Combet said.

In addition to the proposals for direct measurement of emissions from CSG well completions and workovers, it foreshadows further changes to emissions estimation methods, including:

  • Developing Australian-specific emissions factors for CSG well casings and leaks from production and from processing facilities, using data from the joint DIICCSRTE-CSIRO research project;
  • Conducting research into methods for estimating “diffuse” CSG emissions beyond gas wellheads;
  • Developing a new method for estimating emissions from decommissioned CSG wells.

The discussion paper can be found here.