ABC: A new gas battle emerges in the Kimberley

The red Earth, thirsty eucalypts and fat boab trees stretch uninterrupted to the horizon, blue sky blazing overhead. The wild and remote Canning Basin in the south west Kimberley is usually a place only for Traditional Owners and isolated cattle farmers. But quietly over the past couple of years, the area has become the proving ground for what could be a massive new industry in the desert and semi-arid regions of Australia.

Coal seam gas (CSG), principally methane, has been known since the early days of coal mining in Australia, but commercial production didn't start until 1996 in Queensland. It's normally trapped in coal seams, anywhere from 200 to 1,000 metres below the surface.

But in addition to CSG, there's also shale and so-called 'tight' gas. Shale and tight gas have driven the boom in unconventional gas in the US that's delivered cheap fuel and changed America's energy mix.

In 2012, Santos celebrated as production started up at Moomba Well 191 in the Cooper Basin on the border of SA and Queensland. It was the first shale gas well in Australia to commence commercial production. There have been complications since with maintaining the volume and purity of the gas flow and it's also known there are tight gas reserves in the Cooper Basin fields. MORE