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Shell, PetroChina Sanction Phase 2 of Surat Gas Project

by Jov Onsat|Rigzone Staff | Wednesday, August 14, 2024

PetroChina Co. Ltd. and Shell PLC have agreed on an additional investment in the Surat Gas Project (SGP), their joint venture in Australia that is targeted to produce about five trillion cubic feet of natural gas over 27 years.

Like phase one, which was approved by the partners 2020, phase two will supply a Shell-operated liquefaction plant on Curtis Island in the state of Queensland, Shell said in a statement. The liquefied natural gas (LNG) is meant for export, but the Surat Gas Project will also deliver gas for the domestic market.

Phase two, or SGP North, has an expected peak output of about 130 million cubic feet a day, with up to 450 production wells targeted to be drilled. Shell expects to start production 2026.

The Surat Gas Project is operated by the British energy giant and state-backed PetroChina’s 50-50 joint venture Arrow Energy Pty. Ltd.

Arrow said in a separate press release construction is scheduled to start later in 2024. The infrastructure will include a new field compression station and a 27-kilometer (16.8 miles) pipeline. Works also include upgrades for roads and other existing infrastructure.

Meanwhile phase one, which consists of over 600 wells, has an expected peak production of 90 billion feet a year according to Shell’s announcement of the final investment decision April 17, 2020.

The Surat Gas Project, which targets coal seams in the namesake basin, is part of Arrow’s 27-year agreement to supply QCLNG (QCG), the operator of the Queensland LNG facility. QCG is a joint venture operated by Shell with a 73.75 percent stake, with state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp. and EIG Management LLC owning 25 percent and 1.25 percent respectively. Last year QCG supplied 15 percent of gas demand on Australia’s east coast according to Shell.

“QCLNG marked its 1000th cargo at the end of last year, reflecting its significance as a gas supplier for Australia and the region”, said Zoë Yujnovich, director for integrated gas and upstream at Shell. “This investment will enable us to sustain and grow this important, secure energy source that offers a lower emissions alternative to options like coal”.

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LNG Japan Buys 10% Stake In Australian Natural Gas Project

By Irina Slav - Aug 08, 2023

LNG Japan is set to buy a 10% interest in the Scarborough natural gas project operated by Australia’s Woodside Energy.

The Japanese company will pay some $880 million for the stake in total, including reimbursement for expenses Woodside has already made in relation to the Scarborough project, the Australian company said.
In addition to the minority stake, LNG Japan will also buy 12 LNG cargoes annually from the Scarborough project, each of 900,000 tons, beginning in 2026.

Japan is almost exclusively dependent on energy imports for its consumption and liquefied natural gas is one of the country’s chief forms of energy imports.

Over the first half of the year, Japan imported some 32.62 million tons of liquefied natural gas. This was a 13% decline on an annual basis but still made Japan the world’s second-largest importer of the superchilled fuel, after China, which replaced it as the number-one LNG importer this year.

Japan is also the largest buyer of LNG from Australia because of its proximity, which makes the purchases more affordable.

The country was last month reported to consider proposing a global natural gas reserve similar to the oil reserve every member of the International Energy Agency is required to hold in case of an emergency.
For the IEA members, which include most developed economies including Japan and the United States, each country has an obligation to hold oil stocks equivalent to at least 90 days of net oil imports and to be ready to collectively respond to severe supply disruptions affecting the global oil market.

At the same time, however, Japan is working to reduce its dependence on LNG and imported energy as a whole to boost its supply security. To do this, the country has rethought its complicated relationship with nuclear and is bringing back reactors.

The Scarborough gas project, off the western coast of Australia, will have an annual capacity of 8 million tons of liquefied natural gas annually. The project is slated for completion in 2026.

Chevron Starts Up Gorgon Extension Project

by Jov Onsat|Rigzone Staff|Friday, June 09, 2023

The second stage of the Gorgon field project offshore Western Australia has begun producing gas, operator Chevron Australia said.

Eleven wells have been added to the Gorgon and Jansz-Io fields and offshore pipeline and undersea structures were put up to serve gas processing facilities on Barrow Island, the Australian unit of Chevron Corp. said in a press release Tuesday.

Chevron Corp. calls the Gorgon undertaking “one of the world's largest LNG projects and the largest single resource project in Australia's history”, as described on the global energy giant’s website. Projected to last over 30 years, the project linked with three trains includes a plant that can produce up to 15.6 million tons of liquefied natural gas yearly, as well as another gas facility meant to supply Western Australia with a daily capacity of 300 terajoules. The project, which exports to Asia-Pacific, dispatched its first LNG cargo March 2016 and began supplying the local market December that year.

“The development supports the longevity of the Gorgon Project and the continuation of its already significant ongoing benefits including highly skilled local employment, economic activity as well as state and federal government revenue for decades to come”, Chevron Australia managing director Mark Hatfield said in the announcement.

“Adding to the initial A$40 billion [$27 billion] spend on Australian goods and services from the Gorgon Project since 2009, the development created more than 800 jobs in Western Australia through drilling and completion activities, subsea infrastructure installation and project management”.

Chevron Australia operates the Gorgon project with a 47.3 percent stake. Exxon Mobil Corp. holds 25 percent, Shell PLC 25 percent, Osaka Gas Network Co. Ltd. 1.25 percent, Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd. one percent and JERA Co. Inc. 0.417 percent.

Western Australia remained the country’s top natural gas producer in 2020-21 accounting for 3,459 petajoules (PJ) of the 5,730 PJ national output, according to the latest official data. That was despite the Gorgon and Prelude floating LNG facilities, both in the state, being intermittently switched off by technical problems and routine maintenance, the “Australian Energy Update 2022” of the Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water Department said.

Australie : un groupe aborigène des îles Tiwi remporte un combat juridique contre un vaste projet gazier

AFP le 02 déc. 2022

Un groupe aborigène en Australie a réussi à bloquer le projet d'exploitation d'un nouveau champ gazier massif, au large de la côte nord du pays, en gagnant un procès en appel vendredi.

Dennis Tipakalippa, membre d'une communauté aborigène des îles Tiwi, est à l'origine de la plainte contre le groupe Santos, l'un des plus grands producteurs de pétrole et de gaz du pays, qui souhaite lancer un programme de forage dans la mer de Timor.

M. Tipakalippa et le clan Munupi craignent que le projet de Santos nuise à leurs ressources alimentaires maritimes, mais aussi au lien spirituel qu'ils entretiennent avec la région.

En septembre, un tribunal avait révoqué l'approbation environnementale du projet de la société gazière, en jugeant que les groupes autochtones n'avaient pas été correctement consultés.

Vendredi, la Cour fédérale australienne a rejeté l'appel de Santos, estimant que la société était tenue de "consulter M. Tipakalippa et le clan Munupi parce que leurs intérêts pouvaient être affectés" par le projet gazier.

"Santos et toutes les autres compagnies gazières doivent en prendre note", a souligné M. Tipakalippa dans une déclaration publiée par le Bureau des défenseurs de l'environnement. "Nous nous sommes battus pour protéger notre Sea Country (pays maritime, un terme utilisé pour désigner leur territoire en mer, NDLR) du début à la fin et nous ne cesserons jamais de nous battre", a-t-il affirmé.

Même si Santos devra demander de nouvelles approbations avant de pouvoir lancer des forages, il n'est pas certain que la décision judiciaire de vendredi sera suffisante pour bloquer définitivement ce projet de 3,6 milliards de dollars australiens (2,5 milliards de dollars américains). Santos a d'ailleurs dit vendredi qu'il prévoyait toujours d'extraire du gaz de ce champ d'ici à 2025.

Les îles Tiwi composent un archipel peu peuplé, situé à environ 80 kilomètres au large de la côte de Darwin, dans le nord de l'Australie. Les aborigènes australiens représentent environ 90% des 2 000 habitants de ces îles, connues pour leur art, leur langue et leur passion pour le football australien.

Pluto Train 2 LNG project to deliver economic benefits for Western Australia
Construction has commenced on the Pluto Train 2 project, a key milestone supporting jobs and economic growth in Western Australia.

25/08/2022


The Deputy Premier of Western Australia, the Hon. Roger Cook MLA, officially launched construction on the project at a ceremony in Karratha.

Pluto Train 2 will be the second liquefied natural gas train at Woodside Energy’s existing Pluto LNG onshore facility and will process gas from the Scarborough development. The construction site for Pluto Train 2 is within the existing Pluto LNG boundary.

The Pluto Train 2 project will deliver significant economic benefits for Western Australia. Woodside, as operator of Pluto Train 2 and Scarborough, has made commitments to the Western Australian Government in its community development plans to support positive and sustainable community outcomes in the Pilbara region.

Bechtel will execute the engineering, procurement, and construction of Pluto Train 2, which will have an LNG capacity of approximately 5 million tonnes per annum. To continue to support Australia’s domestic market, additional domestic gas infrastructure will be installed with capacity of about 225 terajoules per day, equivalent to keeping the lights on for a year in about 10,000 households.

Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill said the start of construction on Pluto Train 2 was a key milestone towards the delivery of the Scarborough project, which will provide significant long-term economic growth and local employment opportunities for Western Australia and supply domestic and export markets for decades to come.

“Woodside is proud to build on the economic contribution that it has made over 35 years to communities in Western Australia. Many opportunities will be realised in Western Australia, providing a boost to long-term investment in education and training, growing jobs and bringing work through the supply chain. Scarborough gas processed through an expanded and efficient Pluto facility will support the decarbonisation goals of our customers in Asia,” O'Neill said.

The Pluto Train 2 project will employ about 2,000 people at peak in 2024, with a large contingent of employees expected to be drawn from within Western Australia. Bechtel has already engaged a number of local and Indigenous businesses to support delivery, with more awards anticipated as the project progresses.

Bechtel Energy President Paul Marsden said Bechtel was pleased to start work on such an important project for the Asia-Pacific region.

“We are proud to do our part to invest in local communities and improve the quality of life where we work by creating jobs and opportunities, while also bringing greater energy security for the region,” Marsden said.

Bechtel has commenced site preparation, including office, crib hut, and other facility installation. Initial earthworks and activities in the laydown and storage areas will start up before the end of 2022.

Woodside secures key Australian approvals for Scarborough gas project

April 6, 2022

The Commonwealth-Western Australian Joint Authority has issued approvals to support execution of the Scarborough gas development offshore Western Australia.



Woodside Energy and its partners have received approvals from the Commonwealth-Western Australian Joint Authority to support execution of the Scarborough gas development offshore Western Australia.

One concerns a license to construct and operate the Scarborough pipeline in Commonwealth waters. The field development plan has also secured approval, which enables Woodside (as operator) to start petroleum recovery operations from Petroleum Production Licenses WA-61-L and WA-62-L.

The milestones follow final investment decisions taken last November 2021 to proceed with the $12- billion Scarborough and associated Pluto Train 2 LNG developments.

Scarborough gas processed through Train 2 will be one of the lowest carbon intensity sources of LNG delivered to clients in north Asia, Woodside added, as the reservoir contains only 0.1% carbon dioxide (CO2).

The Scarborough field, 375 km (233 m) offshore Western Australia, contains an estimated 11.1 tcf of dry gas. Development will include installation of a floating production unit with eight wells in the initial phase and thirteen wells to be drilled over the life of the field.

Gas will be transported through a new 430-km (267-mi) pipeline to Pluto LNG.

McDermott is responsible for the FPU; the Subsea Integration Alliance for the subsea hardware, risers and flowlines; Valaris for drilling; Europipe for the trunkline pipe; and Saipem for the trunkline installation.

Woodside has contracted MMA Offshore to support offshore field development drilling for the Scarborough project over a firm 350-day period.

Operations are due to start in 2Q 2023, with the platform supply vessel MMA due to undergo dry-docking prior to joining the campaign.

ExxonMobil, BHP to invest $291m to further develop Kipper gas field

By NS Energy Staff Writer 18 Mar 2022

According to ExxonMobil, the latest gas development project in the Gippsland Basin is aimed at securing an additional 200PJ of gas between 2023 and 2027 to deliver critical gas supplies to help Australian southern states prevent winter supply risks predicted in the Australian Energy Market Operator’s 2021 Gas Statement of Opportunities

ExxonMobil’s subsidiary Esso Australia has made a final investment decision (FID) to develop additional gas from the Kipper field in the offshore part of the Gippsland Basin in Australia with an estimated investment of A$400m ($291m).

Esso Australia is the operator of the 50:50 Gippsland Basin joint venture between Esso Australia Resources and BHP Petroleum (Bass Strait).

According to ExxonMobil, the latest gas development project at the Kipper field is aimed at securing an additional 200 petajoules (PJ) of gas between 2023 and 2027 for the domestic market in Australia. Nearly 30PJ of that is expected to be brought into production next year.

The volume will deliver critical gas supplies to help Australian southern states prevent winter supply risks that were forecast in the Australian Energy Market Operator’s 2021 Gas Statement of Opportunities.

Esso Australia is also taking forward funding decisions to streamline production from the Turrum field, which is another producing asset of the Gippsland Basin JV.

ExxonMobil Australia chair Dylan Pugh said: “Natural gas has an increasingly important role in meeting demand for cleaner fuel, lowering GHG emissions in the power sector and supporting higher penetration of renewables by maintaining reliability, resilience and stability of the grid.

“Our ongoing investment and commitment to supplying Australian customers means that the Gippsland Basin remains the largest single source of natural gas for Australia’s east coast.”

“There is still plenty of gas remaining in Bass Strait and we are working hard to unlock its full value. More investment will be required for Victoria to maintain its reliable supply of natural gas, especially during winter.”

Last year, Esso Australia had started production from the A$400m ($291m) West Barracouta gas project in the Gippsland Basin.

Recently, the company had unveiled plans to capture and reuse carbon dioxide (CO2) generated from its Gippsland Basin operations.

As part of this, the company has engaged Air Liquide, which has started the construction of a new facility for capturing and reusing CO2 from the gas produced in the basin.

Australia investing $12bn in liquefied natural gas

23 November 2021

Australia has approved a $12 billion liquefied natural gas investment into a wave of projects, with expectations of rise in demand as the world shifts to cleaner energy.

Australia's Woodside Petroleum will supply 8 million tons annually for at least 20 years, by development of the Scarborough field in Exmouth, the Pluto onshore processing facility, and a 430-kilometer subsea pipeline.

The first shipments are expected to begin in 2026, Bloomberg reported.

“One of the quickest ways for nations to reduce their emissions is to switch their energy system from coal to gas-fired,” Meg O'Neill, CEO at Woodside Energy said.

“We think the market for LNG will be very robust for decades into the future,” she added.

Final Investment Decision made for Barossa field development

édité le 31/03/2021

BW Offshore is pleased to announce that Santos Ltd. and its partners have made Final Investment Decision (FID) for development of the Barossa gas field 300 kilometres offshore Darwin in Australia. The FID confirms BW Offshore’s contract for the supply of the FPSO to the Barossa gas field is effective as of 30 March 2021.

The Lease and Operate contract has a firm period of 15 years, with 10 years of options. The firm period contract value is USD 4.6 billion. BW Offshore will be responsible for engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and operation of the FPSO. The FPSO will be turret moored with a new built hull based on BW Offshore's RapidFramework® design. Initial gas production from the FPSO is expected during the first half of 2025.

Barossa Offshore Development Project
Barossa is a gas and condensate field located in the Bonaparte Basin of the Timor Sea offshore Australia, in a water depth between 130m and 350m.

Barossa project is a gas and condensate field located in the Bonaparte Basin of the Timor Sea offshore Australia, in a water depth between 130m and 350m.

The field is being developed along with the nearby Caldita field under the Barossa offshore development project. The project is owned by the Barossa-Caldita joint venture, which comprises ConocoPhillips Australia Exploration (37.5%), SK E&S Australia (37.5%) and Santos Offshore (25%).

ConocoPhillips is serving as the operator and submitted a development proposal to the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA).

The proposal was accepted by the NOPSEMA in March 2018.

First gas from the offshore project is expected to be achieved in 2023 with an estimated annual production rate of 3.7 million tonnes (Mt) of liquefied natural gas and 1.5 million barrels of gas.

The project is expected to have a life of approximately 25 years from its first gas.

The final investment decision on the project is expected by the end of 2019.

Barossa and Caldita discovery
Barossa was discovered in 2006 with the drilling of the Barossa-1 exploration well to a depth of 4,310m.
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Natural gas and condensate produced from the field will be separated by the FPSO, and the condensate will then be offloaded directly into tankers.

The dry gas will be transported onshore to the Darwin Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility via a 260km-to-290km-long subsea gas export pipeline, featuring a diameter ranging between 24in and 28in, for further processing.
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Shell greenlights $6.4 billion Australia natural gas project

Apr 17th, 2020 by John Donovan.

Royal Dutch Shell said on Friday it had taken a final investment decision to develop the first phase of Australia’s biggest coal seam gas resource in Queensland state.

The first phase of the A$10 billion ($6.4 billion) Surat Gas Project would bring as much as 90 billion cubic feet per year of new natural gas to market at peak production, Shell said in a statement.

The project is being developed by a Shell and PetroChina joint venture called Arrow Energy. Construction will start this year and its first gas sales are expected in 2021.

The investment is a timely injection of cash for Australia’s A$2 trillion economy now on the verge of its first recession in three decades as businesses shut to fight the new coronavirus, throwing tens of thousands out of work.

Authorities are also eager to see the Surat project start up as Australia’s southeastern states face gas shortages by the mid-2020s.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk welcomed the decision, saying the biggest gas project the state has seen since 2011 would be a shot in the arm for its economy.

“The first phase will mean 200 jobs and we should see people out in the field around August, September this year,” said Palaszczuk, who is facing an election within months./an

Queensland, which is also home to the controversial proposed Adani coal project, is heavily dependent on revenue from the mining and energy sectors.

Australia to become biggest LNG exporter in 2019
Country expected to marginally surpass Qatar as world’s largest LNG exporter in 2019: Australian office of chief economist

Murat Temizer | 25.12.2019

Australia's LNG exports are expected to rise to 79 million tonnes (87 million tons) by the end of this year, making the country the top LNG exporter in the world, according to the country’s new Resources and Energy Quarterly (REQ) on Tuesday.

REQ contains the Australian Office of the Chief Economist’s forecasts for the value, volume and price of the country's major resources and energy commodity exports.

According to REQ, Australia's exported 75 million tonnes of LNG in 2018 but thanks to the latest two LNG projects, Prelude and Ichthys, this is expected to increase to 78 million tonnes by the end of 2019.

"Export volumes are forecast to hold steady at 81 million tonnes in 2020–21," according to REQ economists.

The report revealed that throughout 2019, Australia and Qatar competed for the title of the world’s largest LNG exporter.

"On current estimates, Australia is expected to marginally edge past Qatar as the world’s largest LNG exporter in 2019, shipping an estimated 78 million tonnes of LNG compared with an estimated 75 million tonnes from Qatar," it stated.

The country has a nameplate capacity of 88 million tonnes.

Qatar was the main exporter of LNG in 2018 with 76.8 million tonnes, followed by Australia, Malaysia and the U.S. However, the report by the Australian Office of the Chief Economist also advised the lack of clarity around the precise level of Qatar’s LNG exports.

"Whatever the case, Australia’s LNG exports are expected to be surpassed by both Qatar and the U.S. during the mid-2020s," it noted

In November, Qatar Petroleum announced plans to construct another two LNG ‘mega trains’, which would increase Qatar’s LNG production capacity by 64% to 126 million tonnes by 2027.

These plans are expected to solidify Qatar’s position as the world’s top LNG exporter by the late-2020s.

Western Gas aiming for 2024 for start of Equus gas production
Western Gas Corp. reported that its Equus gas project offshore Western Australia is on track for coming on stream in 2024. The estimate follows completion of an “upstream-to-LNG development plan” and the commencement of project financing and partnering.

Rick Wilkinson Sep 11th, 2019



Western Gas Corp. Pty. Ltd. (WGC), Perth, reported that its Equus gas project offshore Western Australia is on track for coming on stream in 2024. The estimate follows completion of an “upstream-to-LNG development plan” and the commencement of project financing and partnering.

WGC Executive Director Andrew Leibovitch said the engineering and design process undertaken by development partners McDermott and Baker Hughes had delivered a globally competitive, midscale LNG development plan for the Equus fields.

The development will eventually tap 10 discoveries spread across exploration permit WA-474-P and retention licence WA-70-R located between Woodside’s Scarborough gas field and ExxonMobil Corp.’s Io-Jansz field on the outer North West Shelf.

The first phase comprises three production wells connecting the Nimblefoot and Mentorc fields via a subsea network to a floating production, storage, and offloading vessel, a 160-km dry gas export pipeline to a nearshore, a 2 million-tonne/year floating LNG (FLNG) plant, and an onshore pipeline connection to supply gas into the Dampier-to-Bunbury natural gas trunkline.

Processing on the FPSO will include gas dehydration, gas compression, and stripping of condensate for direct export.

Engineering and design work will now focus on development proposals for the subsea installations, the FPSO, pipeline, and FLNG work packages.

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Inpex says Australia's Ichthys LNG project running at 80% of full capacity

TOKYO, Aug 8 (Reuters)

Japan's biggest oil and gas explorer Inpex Corp said on Thursday its Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Australia is running at around 80% of full capacity, with 24 cargos being shipped in April-June despite a 15-20-day maintenance in May.

The company expects Ichthys to ship about 7-8 cargoes a month this year and the project is forecast to contribute 65 billion yen ($612 million) to its group profit for the 9-month earnings this year through Dec. 31, against its earlier prediction of 60 billion yen, Inpex's Senior Managing Executive Officer Masahiro Murayama told an earnings news conference.

($1 = 106.1400 yen)

Origin Energy Ltd. plans to drill two wells later this year in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin, after the local government ended a three-year ban on fracking -- the practice of extracting oil and gas from layers of shale rock deep underground. With an estimated 500 trillion cubic feet of gas, Beetaloo has been compared to famed U.S. shale regions such as Marcellus and Barnett.

But its isolated location, lack of infrastructure, and the likelihood of tough environmental opposition, make Beetaloo a highly speculative investment.

“There are some big numbers being quoted and people have to realize this is exploration,” said Mark Schubert, Origin’s head of integrated gas, noting that only some of the total reserves would be extractable.
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