Santos TNT Pty Ltd (Santos) will be holding a public forum where residents will be able to ask questions and voice their concerns about the future of their land.

Representatives from Santos will hold a public forum at the Bunnan Community Hall next Thursday, April 28 at 6.30pm.

Santos Public Affairs principal adviser Sam Crafter and project manager Jorge Pinedo addressed Upper Hunter Shire councillors in Merriwa on Monday.

Mr Crafter said the exploration phase of coal seam gas mining took at least two years and it can take up to 15 years to establish a gas field.

He confirmed there were seven core holes in the Upper Hunter and that the company were looking at two pilot test holes in the next 12 months.

With additional core and chip holes planned for 2011, seismic testing and lateral wells, its clear Santos has many plans for the future of land in the shire.

Mr Pinedo said there were a lot of myths about what they do, but all Santos were doing was drilling a simple hole to get a proper sample of the gas.

“We have regulations to follow in regards to rehabilitation,” he said.

“Simply we put everything back as we found it and we proactively try to fix any problems or impacts to the land.”

Mr Crafter said Santos firmly believe they can extract coal seam gas without negatively impacting agricultural industries.

Eastern Star Gas representative Brett Peterkin also spoke on the proposed gas pipeline from Narrabri to Newcastle which, if approved, will pass over 86 kilometres within the shire.

Santos is a 19.9 per cent shareholder in Eastern Star Gas.

A feasibility study is currently being undertaken into developing the gas line from Eastern Star Gas’ resource base in Narrabri to Wellington with an off take line from Coolah to a plant in Newcastle.

About 51 landholders in the shire will be affected by the proposed underground line, of which Mr Peterkin said 44 had signed conditional access licences.