July 21, 2011. New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, said it is extending until the end of the year a moratorium on the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to extract natural gas from coal seams. A 60-day moratorium was due to end July 23. The use of certain chemicals in drilling will be banned, it said. These are benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene -- known collectively as BTEX. Hydraulic fracturing, which injects water and chemicals into rock formations to free trapped gas, has drawn criticism from environmental groups and politicians who say it may contaminate drinking water supplies. France outlawed the technique on July 1, the first nation to do so.