On 13 March 2025, I visited Empire Energy’s Carpentaria Pilot Project and surrounding area. The principal objective was to enter the fenced wellpad area which currently accommodates 2H, 3H and 5H wells to collect fluid samples for testing from the several bodies of stored liquid in tanks and open sumps on site (Figure 1). [Note: The Carpentaria onshore gas project is conducted under the name ‘Imperial Oil and Gas Pty Ltd’, a subsidiary of Empire Energy.]
This visit and collection of water samples had been previously approved by Empire on 25 February 2025. The water samples were to be later tested in a commercial laboratory to identify the presence, concentration and potential environmental harm of contaminants.
The need for information on contaminants in liquids stored on site follows two recent incidents reported by Empire Energy. The first was where Empire estimated that about 2,000 litres of ‘flowback fluid’ stored in a large tank at Carpentaria 5H was pumped outside of the Carp 5 drilling site onto surrounding vegetation. In early January 2025 it was noticed that vegetation began to die off (Figure 2). Empire also reported a second incident on 4 December 2024 in which a 6 inch hose carrying toxic drilling muds ‘parted’ and 4,700 litres of drilling muds leaked onto the wellpad, from drilling at Carp 5, travelling through all protective well pad protections and reaching beyond the wellpad onto surrounding country.