AGL has confirmed the land, south of the town, on which it wants to drill to obtain water data is owned by the mining company.

Last month, AGL and Gloucester Resources announced they had entered into access agreements for coal seam gas exploration.

Gloucester Resources has been buying up properties in the Gloucester area in recent months.

An AGL spokesman said it had an access and compensation agreement with Gloucester Resources.

AGL has to cross a rural property to get to its pilot wells drilling site but said it had an access agreement with that owner as well.

Gloucester gas blockade enters third day

A BLOCKADE to stop part of AGL’s exploration activities in the Gloucester Region has entered its third day.

The blockade was set up on Monday by the Barrington-Gloucester-Stroud Preservation Alliance to stop AGL access to its pilot well site on private land at Forbesdale, south of the town.

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Alliance chairman Graeme Healy said today the group had had talks with the company about a key demand for AGL to stop all drilling until an independent water study of the region is completed and released to the public.

AGL said company representatives met people on the blockade this morning to let them know there would be no AGL truck movements in the area today.

AGL made this decision to allow open discussions to continue so the company can gain a fuller understanding of the issues concerning some members of the community, the company said in a statement.

AGL expects discussions to continue throughout the day.

The company said drilling in the Forbesdale area was to obtain information on the area’s water supplies and was not linked to the approved 110 gas production wells that form part of the AGL Gloucester gas project.

AGL urged protesters to respect the company’s rights and to carry out activities in an orderly and a safe manner.