Climate-heating methane gas is leaking or being vented from more than 100 places across 35 fossil fuel sites in Queensland and New South Wales, according to an investigation by environmental organisations.
The Australian Conservation Foundation commissioned the US-based Clean Air Task Force, a global nonprofit, to use new technology to monitor if methane was leaking from coalmines and gas facilities owned by energy giants Santos and Origin and pipeline company Jemena.
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas with more than 80 times the global heating impact of CO2 over a 20-year period when released into the atmosphere.
The two groups released infrared videos on Tuesday that they said showed gas escaping from a range of infrastructure and mines. The organisations said the videos were recorded over a four-week period in which they visited 80 sites to take a snapshot of Australia’s fossil fuel infrastructure.
They said they found:
At least 25 visible leaks or venting places along major Jemena pipelines in the Darling Downs and in New South Wales between Newcastle and Wollongong.
At least 10 leaks or venting places at coal seam gas wells owned by Origin.
Methane being released from at least four of Santos’ seven coal seam gas wells in NSW’s Pilliga/Bibblewindi forest.
The claims were immediately rejected by two of the companies named. Origin and Santos said they had checked their gas wells after the claims were raised this week and found no leaks. Santos said a routine leak detection inspection last month by the NSW Environment Protection Authority also found no leaks.
The researchers did not suggest the companies were acting illegally, or that they were hiding emissions deliberately. They said they were concerned there was a systemic problem that was not properly regulated.
They said the videos lent further weight to previous studies that found the amount of methane released into the atmosphere was higher than reported. Data released by the International Energy Agency has suggested methane from Australian coalmines and gas production could be more than 60% higher than federal government estimates. Methane has been estimated to have caused nearly a third of the 1.2C increase in average global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution.
The Australian Conservation Foundation’s lead investigator, Annica Schoo, said the organisations had used thermal technology to detect the gas leaks. She said it showed the Albanese government needed a plan that required companies to measure and report on methane emissions properly, install technology to cut methane emissions and rehabilitate abandoned mines.
“The plan should require companies to find and fix leaks as soon as they can,” she said. “The fact is, we just don’t know how much climate-heating methane is leaking from coal and gas in Australia because the regulations are so weak and underreporting is rife.”
Australia has signed up to a global methane pledge to cut emissions by 30% in the decade to 2030.
The researchers said the videos were shot using optical gas imaging technology, which uses a filter to visually record methane’s infrared energy.
Théophile Humann-Guilleminot, an infrared thermographer with the Clean Air Task Force, said the methane leaks he saw in Australia were “on another level” compared with seven other countries in which he had worked. He said he was particularly shocked by Origin’s Talinga and Condamine gasfields.
“In times of heated debates on energy cost, seeing all this gas wasted and supercharging climate change is deeply worrying,” he said.
A Santos spokesperson said the company responded to the claims of leaking and venting by running tests using thermal imagery and gas detection equipment. They said it was required to have independent inspections every six months at each of its gas infrastructure sites in NSW, most recently in May, and no leaks were detected.
“There is no evidence that the ACF’s work is based on sound science, it has provided scant detail on its methodology and its results have not been replicated by regulators or qualified independent experts,” the spokesperson said.
An Origin spokesperson said it found no leaks at its sites on Tuesday. They said some of its older wells used gas to power its instrumentation, to open and close valves, resulting in small amounts of gas being vented. They said that gas was quantified and reported as required under federal law, and this older type of well instrumentation was being converted to using “compressed air or electrification to reduce this operational emissions source”.
The spokesperson said the company aimed to reduce its operational methane emissions over the next three years by replacing equipment and devices with more efficient and advanced technology and retrofitting facilities to reduce both venting and flaring.
Schoo said not everything recorded leaking or venting would be methane, but the onus was on the gas companies to know what they were releasing into the atmosphere. Methane is the largest component of natural gas.
In federal parliament on Tuesday, the independent MP Zali Steggall said methane leaking and active venting could invalidate all Australia’s climate commitments, including the safeguard mechanism, which is promised to cut emissions from major industrial sites.
She asked the climate change minister, Chris Bowen, if the government would legislate to “properly measure and stop leaking and venting of methane”.
Bowen said he agreed methane was “a very important issue”, and the government was acting to ensure methane measurements were accurate.
“It’s not a simple matter but we agree there is a matter to be looked at,” he said. “I’ve sent references to bodies including the Climate Change Authority … to ensure methane measurement is as accurate as possible. A genuine process is well under way, and I will update the [parliament] further when I have received further advice.”
Jemena did not reply to requests for a response to the allegations on Tuesday.
