PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Buru Energy has welcomed statements by the Western Australian Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) which confirmed that the company’s defunct Yulleroo wells were not leaking any gas.

DMP officials inspected the site following claims by protestors that one of the wells was leaking a significant amount of gas; however, DMP executive director Jeff Haworth noted that no gas readings were detected at the site.

“The inspection revealed there is some physical damage to a valve stem, which has been vent, and is the cause of a minor gas leak. Low levels of gas readings were detected around the well when the damaged valve was manipulated. The minor gas leak poses minimal risk and the valve will be repaired as quickly as possible,” Haworth was reported as saying.

The Yulleroo wells formed part of a trial exploration programme for Buru, and were fracked in 2010. The wells were currently suspended and were inspected regularly, Buru said on Thursday, adding that at last inspection, the well head valve had not been damaged.

Executive chairperson Erick Streitberg said the DMP statements clearly contradicted claims by anti-gas protestors, which claimed a significant gas leak at the well.

Furthermore, he pointed out that video provided to the media of the alleged gas leak was recorded by persons accessing a fenced compound at the well site.

“We would like to think that those who recorded the video were not responsible for the damage to the valve,” he said.

Buru would be accessing the site regularly to undertake the necessary repairs and for continued essential maintenance and environmental monitoring, as well as to ensure the security of the existing infrastructure.

In June last year, Buru was cleared to start hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, at its Laurel Formation tight gas exploration programme, after gaining approval from the DMP.

The plan was to undertake 32 fracking treatments in four existing vertical exploration wells about 90 km from Broome, and two in an area about 320 km from Broome.