Fracking is Safe in Australia's Cooper Basin

According to the head of Beach Energy fracking in the Cooper Basin is safe and people need to look at the facts.

"There's no proven damage to aquifers and there's no proven increase in seismicity of consequence," Managing director Reg Nelson told ABC's Inside Business program on Sunday, Australia Associated Press reported.

The company is in the process of expanding its Cooper Basin production by developing a shale gas project, AAP said.

Nelson told ABC that he was confident that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is environmentally-sensitive and safe. "I think people just need to look at the facts and make an assessment on the facts and not on perceptions or wild assertions that are made without any foundation," he said.

There was a very good domestic market for shale gas and pipelines could service all the major capital cities on Australia's east coast, he said.

He said the Canning Basin in Western Australia's north, the Perth Basin and the Otway in Gippsland were all worth exploring for gas.