What is shale oil? 

Shale oil is a high-quality crude oil found deep underground in combination with shale gas, between layers of shale rock, impermeable mudstone, or siltstone. Like shale gas, shale oil production requires unconventional methods such as hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to facilitate extraction.

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Coal seam gas (CSG) mining is a risky, invasive form of unconventional gas mining. 

Coal seam gas extraction usually involves tens of thousands of gas wells, with roads, pipelines, compressor stations, wastewater dams, and other infrastructure.  A CSG project can spread across hundreds of thousands of hectares of land. Download this fact sheet as a PDF.

Find out about other forms of unconventional gas mining, such as Shale and Tight gas here.

What is the difference between conventional and unconventional gas?

The difference between conventional and unconventional gas is the geology of the reservoirs from which they are extracted and the different extraction techniques which are therefore required to obtain commercial quantities of gas. Download the PDF version of this fact sheet

Find out more about Coal Seam Gas (CSG) and fracking here.

A series of fact sheets compiled by local community groups that provide detailed information on a range of topics relating to coal and gas extraction in regional Queensland.

If built, Adani’s proposed mega-coal mine will be the largest in Australia and one of the largest in the world.

The mine puts at risk water resources that are the lifeblood of Central Queensland. These sources include rivers, ancient springs, and aquifers of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) adjoining the mine, which are all vital in times of drought.

Read and download the full referenced fact sheet here.

Coal is an unsustainable fossil fuel. Australia is one of the world's largest producers and exporters of coal.

This also makes Australia responsible for a significant portion of the world's greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to climate change. 

Despite the threat that coal mining poses to our climate, waterways and productive farming land, coal exports are set to double by 2021.

During unconventional gas production, methane is released into the atmosphere from leakage and venting.

This methane leakage and venting is often referred to as fugitive emissions and occurs as a result of leakage from well heads, pipelines and infrastructure, and through deliberate venting and flaring of gas.

Download PDF version of fact sheet here.

The development of an export gas industry based on coal seam gas (CSG) production in Queensland has led to dramatic changes in the eastern-Australian gas market.

Since the three new liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants in Gladstone came online in 2015-16, domestic gas prices in eastern Australia have increased by up to 500%, causing significant hardship for Australian consumers.

Download the fully referenced fact sheet here.

Gas companies spruik the promise of more jobs and significant tax and royalty revenues from gas development.

Unfortunately the reality of unconventional gas development is very different.

Research and statistics from unconventional gas development in Australia reveal that these promises just don’t stack up and that there are a range of negative economic impacts following gasfield industrialisation.

Download PDF version of fact sheet here

Australia’s electricity sector is the nation’s single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Gas power generation is promoted by the gas industry as a transition fuel, yet research is putting that myth to rest. Rapid advances and falling costs in renewable power and storage technologies means that a secure, dependable, cost effective power system can now be achieved without gas.

Download PDF version of fact sheet here