Rick Wilkinson
OGJ Correspondent
MELBOURNE, Mar. 7 -- The Chevron Corp.-led group for the proposed Gorgon-Jansz LNG project in Western Australia has spudded a carbon dioxide data well on Barrow Island to collect additional scientific information to proceed with the injection of CO2 produced with methane from the Gorgon reservoir.
Gorgon has a 12% CO2 content. Part of the development plan is to strip CO2 from the gas stream at the treatment and liquefaction facilities planned for Barrow and to reinject it into deep formations underneath the island.
This plan only applies to Gorgon. The nearby Jansz field has a minimal CO2 content and will be developed through a parallel, but completely separate offshore-onshore pipeline system and its own dedicated LNG train.
The data well project is one of a number of technical studies that have been undertaken since 1998 into the proposal for CO2 geosequestration.
Colin Beckett, general manager of the Gorgon project, said that this single well and the associated studies will cost about $25 million (Aus.).
It is expected to take 2 months and as many as 100 people to drill the 2,500 m deep well and undertake the required scientific and engineering tests.
These tests will involve an extensive wire line formation evaluation program of the bottom 400-500 m section. This section will also be cored and analyzed.
Saline water will also be pumped in to simulate the behaviour of liquid CO2 into a section of the targeted Dupuy formation.
Ultimately, the geosequestration plan may save the emission of more than 120 million tonnes of CO2 over the life of project.
A final decision about whether to proceed with the Gorgon-Jansz development is expected by yearend.
