Page 13 - AsianOil Week 46 2021
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Australia unveils next round of basin funding
FINANCE & THE Australian government has unveiled the
INVESTMENT next two basins to receive exploration funding
and support as part of the “gas-fired recovery”
economic strategy.
Australian Minister for Resources and Water
Keith Pitt announced on November 19 that
the Cooper and Adavale basins, spread across
north-eastern South Australia and south-west-
ern Queensland, would join the Strategic Basins Another AUD30mn ($21.8mn) will go
Plan Program. The government announced in towards the Optimise and Discover Programme,
September 2020 that it would roll out a num- which aims to increase gas supplies and increase
ber of measures to deliver more gas to market, competition between gas producers in the two
with the chief among these being to unlock five basins. Pitt said the investment would “bring
key basins. The Northern Territory’s Beetaloo forward the development of a strong and diverse
Sub-basin was the first to receive Canberra’s portfolio of oil and gas resources in the basins”.
attention in January, followed by Queensland’s The minister said: “This plan supports the
North Bowen and Galilee basins in September. government’s vision to unlock Australia’s vast
Pitt said the government would invest almost gas resources to increase the nation’s gas supply
AUD61mn ($44.3mn) in two new initiatives – and create major new job opportunities.
namely Data Driven Discoveries as well as the The federal government aims to collaborate
Optimise and Discover Programme. with state and local governments, industry,
Geoscience Australia’s Data Driven Discover- communities and scientific experts to unlock
ies will receive AUD30.9mn ($22.4mn), with the the basins’ potential.
funds being used to collect and publish new geo- The Australian government’s “gas-fired
scientific data in order to drive new exploration recovery” aims to drive up domestic gas produc-
investment. This exploration drive will mostly tion such that local prices fall and the manufac-
focus on the underexplored Adavale basin. turing sector benefits in the long run.
Chevron shuts Gorgon Train 1
following minor leak
PROJECTS & CHEVRON shut Train 1 at its giant Gorgon The Train 1 outage comes as the latest setback
COMPANIES LNG plant in Western Australia following the for Gorgon, after Chevron had to take each of the
discovery of a minor gas leak during a routine three trains at the plant offline in turn to repair
inspection this week. weld quality issues discovered on propane heat
The leak was detected on piping associated exchangers, or kettles. The issues were discov-
with the dehydration unit on Train 1, and ered in 2020, and the process was completed in
the shutdown was a precautionary measure, the summer of this year.
according to a Chevron spokesperson. On Gorgon has also come under fire for fail-
November 17, the spokesperson told Reuters ing to meet carbon sequestration targets at
that it was too early to tell how long the train the carbon capture and storage facility that
would be offline. serves it.
“We are preparing plans for investigation Chevron operates Gorgon with a 47.3%
and repairs,” the spokesperson was reported as stake. ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell
saying. each own 25% in the project, while Osaka Gas
According to sources familiar with the sit- holds 1.25%, Tokyo Gas owns 1% and JERA
uation, the dehydration unit would need to be has 0.417%.
depressurised, and there would be a number of The project has a capacity of 15.6mn tonnes
steps involved in assessing the issue, making it per year (tpy) of LNG, but had been operating
difficult to estimate the duration of the outage. above nameplate capacity in October, producing
Trains 2 and 3 are continuing to operate as 16.9mn tpy on an annualised basis. According
normal, and Chevron said it was continuing to to consultancy EnergyQuest, 21 cargoes were
deliver LNG to its customers and natural gas to shipped from Gorgon in October – the same
Western Australia. number as in September.
Week 46 19•November•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P13
