The NSW Department of Trade & Investment has been made aware of the discharge of 10,000 litres of saline water, in June 2011, at the Narrabri Coal Seam Gas Project, in the middle of last year, which was operated at the time by Eastern Star Gas.

The incident was brought to the attention of Departmental officers last Friday evening by Santos, which took over Eastern Star Gas in November 2011.

A Santos review of Eastern Star Gas records has identified that a pipeline failure occurred on June 25, 2011, which resulted in a discharge of 10,000 litres of saline coal seam gas water.

The incident was not reported to Government authorities by Eastern Star Gas at the time. The company is obliged under conditions of its Petroleum Exploration Licence, to report such incidents, in accordance with the Petroleum Onshore Act 1991.

At the time of the incident, Eastern Star Gas was conducting coal seam gas exploration within the Pilliga East and Bibblewindi State Forests south of Narrabri.

The Department of Trade & Investment is pursuing enforcement actions on this discharge, including the potential for prosecution, and continuing to work with the Environment Protection Authority to further investigate the incident.

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