Queensland Gas Company (QGC) Pty Limited has established a safety zone around a well head that was damaged and had begun leaking gas on Monday evening during set up operations for a drilling rig at the company’s Berwyndale South gas field, about 20 kilometers southeast of Miles.

In a statement, QGC Senior Vice President Jim Knudsen said the site, which was on private property, had been cordoned off with an exclusion zone and work was under way to repair the leak.

Knudsen said the leak was not considered dangerous beyond three metres from the well head and poses no significant adverse environmental or health effect.

As a precaution, however, Queensland emergency services had been notified.

"Nobody was injured in the incident which resulted in a 5 cm crack in the pipeline leading from the well head...Repairs are expected to take a couple of days," the statement said.

Knudsen said the landholder and the State Government’s regulator had been advised, the site was being monitored, and an investigation into the cause of the incident was under way.

QGC, a BG Group subsidiary, is a leading Australian coal seam gas explorer and producer focused on supplying gas to domestic and international markets.

QGC is establishing one of Australia’s largest capital infrastructure projects to turn Queensland’s world-class coal seam gas reserves into liquefied natural gas.

Queensland Curtis LNG, a priority project for QGC, involves expanding exploration and development in southern and central Queensland and transporting gas through a 540km underground pipeline network to Curtis Island near Gladstone where it will be liquefied.