Woodside Petroleum’s CEO Don Voelte has raised industry and investor eyebrows alike with his critical assessment of CSG projects. He suggests, now that the “coal-seam euphoria” phase is over, that owners of CSG projects in Australia are “struggling” because the costs and technical requirements of this industry are much higher than initially estimated.

In particular, Mr Voelte candidly asked “What in the hell do you do with the water? You have to treat the water, and while some is clean, some is saline, some has magnesium and manganese and its really going to be a high-cost disposal issue”.

Of course Voelte is a gas and oil man through and through, pushing LNG instead, but given his long experience, he knows a dud when he sees one and has, consequently, spent none of Woodside’s cash on CSG.