CSG protestors target firm in Brisbane

Nine news reports:

Anti-coal seam gas protesters claim a consultancy firm is sitting on a study into CSG emissions because it doesn't like the conclusions.

A handful of protesters gathered outside energy consultancy WorleyParsons' Brisbane office on Wednesday, chanting "WorleyParsons, QGC, what are you trying to hide from me".

StopCSG Brisbane spokesman Ewan Saunders says the consulting firm has suppressed a report on coal seam gas (CSG) emissions, commissioned by a climate think tank in June, because it has a multimillion dollar contract with CSG company QGC.

"We see that there's a conflict of interest there and we're simply demanding that the report ... must be released," Mr Saunders told AAP.

Beyond Zero Emissions executive director Matthew Wright said he understood that WorleyParsons had finished the report, but it had been canned by the firm's legal team.

He said WorleyParsons was working on a new, watered-down report under the same name because the original report raised too many questions about CSG.

"WorleyParsons, they win their bread from big infrastructure projects and most of those are in the oil and gas industry," he told AAP.

"If the report actually found that the industry can't be fixed up and it's pretty unviable, well that wasn't something that WorleyParsons were expecting."

A spokesman for the company said the allegations were baseless.

"Far from suppressing the report in question, WorleyParsons has committed to the full public release of the report after it has been through a full scientific peer-reviewed process," he told AAP.

"This process, which has been under way for some months, is well advanced."