New groundwater monitoring bores have shown no detectable levels of benzene or toluene at Cougar Energy's underground coal gasification pilot project at Kingaroy in the eastern Australian state of Queensland, the company said Monday.
Analysis of samples from the bores close to the Kingaroy project have not shown any benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene, commonly referred to as BTEX, Cougar said in a statement. As a result, the samples do not exceed the trigger levels for Australian drinking water standards.
"Since May of this year, no benzene or toluene has been detected in groundwater tests conducted by Cougar Energy on water bores and monitoring bores at distances as close as 20 meters and up to 4.2 km [2.6 miles] from the company's pilot burn site," Cougar said.
In total, 11 additional monitoring bores were recently installed at distances varying from 20 m to 60 m from process well P4, where a previous well-casing failure occurred, as part of Cougar's ongoing environmental evaluation work requested by the Queensland government's Department of Environment and Resource Management. The extra monitoring bores are positioned radially around P4 and allow groundwater to be sampled from different geological layers in the upper aquifer system, the company said.
All sample test results have been forwarded to the DERM, and the program of groundwater sampling and testing is ongoing, Cougar said.
The company has been conducting intensive and continuous groundwater sampling and testing at Kingaroy since April, following the start of the pilot burn earlier this year. No benzene or toluene has been detected in 23 water bores operated by local farmers, but two isolated and transient measurements of 2 parts per billion of benzene, which is above drinking water levels, were detected in one of the 10 wells installed by Cougar in May, prompting the government to order the shutdown of the project.
"Based on these groundwater sampling and testing results, Cougar Energy is confident that the pilot burn at its Kingaroy site has had no adverse impact on landholder water bores," the company said. "Cougar Energy continues to work with DERM to ensure the re-commencement of the Kingaroy trial project at the earliest possible time."
The potential contamination of groundwater related to underground coal gasification and coalseam gas production has become a public concern in Queensland recently, following the incident at Kingaroy and two subsequent discoveries of traces of BTEX at coalseam gas wells drilled by Australia Pacific LNG and Arrow Energy.
Analysis of samples from the bores close to the Kingaroy project have not shown any benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene, commonly referred to as BTEX, Cougar said in a statement. As a result, the samples do not exceed the trigger levels for Australian drinking water standards.
"Since May of this year, no benzene or toluene has been detected in groundwater tests conducted by Cougar Energy on water bores and monitoring bores at distances as close as 20 meters and up to 4.2 km [2.6 miles] from the company's pilot burn site," Cougar said.
In total, 11 additional monitoring bores were recently installed at distances varying from 20 m to 60 m from process well P4, where a previous well-casing failure occurred, as part of Cougar's ongoing environmental evaluation work requested by the Queensland government's Department of Environment and Resource Management. The extra monitoring bores are positioned radially around P4 and allow groundwater to be sampled from different geological layers in the upper aquifer system, the company said.
All sample test results have been forwarded to the DERM, and the program of groundwater sampling and testing is ongoing, Cougar said.
The company has been conducting intensive and continuous groundwater sampling and testing at Kingaroy since April, following the start of the pilot burn earlier this year. No benzene or toluene has been detected in 23 water bores operated by local farmers, but two isolated and transient measurements of 2 parts per billion of benzene, which is above drinking water levels, were detected in one of the 10 wells installed by Cougar in May, prompting the government to order the shutdown of the project.
"Based on these groundwater sampling and testing results, Cougar Energy is confident that the pilot burn at its Kingaroy site has had no adverse impact on landholder water bores," the company said. "Cougar Energy continues to work with DERM to ensure the re-commencement of the Kingaroy trial project at the earliest possible time."
The potential contamination of groundwater related to underground coal gasification and coalseam gas production has become a public concern in Queensland recently, following the incident at Kingaroy and two subsequent discoveries of traces of BTEX at coalseam gas wells drilled by Australia Pacific LNG and Arrow Energy.
