The move has angered residents as the NSW Petroleum (Onshore) Act sanctions the well without local government or community input, despite fears it could cause a polluted water disposal risk, unpredictable methane releases and depleted underground water reserves.

The 29 hectares, off Blaxland Street, was the subject of an application by its previous owner for a heavy machinery training centre, which Singleton Council rejected two months ago.

A spokesman for the Sydney Gas and AGL Energy consortium, Mark Harper, confirmed the land purchase yesterday and said a test well would be installed on a pilot borehole which was sunk in 2004.

Consortium representatives would explain their plans at a public meeting at Broke's Nightingale Vineyard from 7pm this Wednesday, he said.

"We understand the residents' concerns and are confident that we can answer them," Mr Harper said. "We are proposing two test wells in old boreholes about 600 metres apart in the Broke area and we expect to extract a total of 20,000 litres of water a day from them, so the project will involve only about one truck a day."

Hunter Bulga Gas Action Group spokesman Graeme Gibson and Wollombi Valley Against Gas Extraction group chairman Sean Gough were unimpressed, and predicted the meeting would be fiery.

"The law rides roughshod over the rights of the community and this pilot well involves significant and unpredictable risks that are not subjected to vigorous environmental or social assessment," Mr Gough said.