Chevron advocates shared development of Carnarvon basin

May 21, 2018
Chevron Australia has called for industry collaboration in the development of Australia’s offshore oil and gas resources to maximize their potential and ensure economic efficiency of future projects.

Rick Wilkinson

OGJ Correspondent

Chevron Australia has called for industry collaboration in the development of Australia’s offshore oil and gas resources to maximize their potential and ensure economic efficiency of future projects.

Focusing on Western Australia, the company believes collaboration will drive efficiencies, minimize duplication of infrastructure, and boost Australian government revenue.

Speaking at the 2018 Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association’s (APPEA) conference in Adelaide this week, Chevron Australia Managing Director Nigel Hearne said the industry’s key challenges include:

• Ensuring the soon-to-be 11 LNG trains currently in production run at a 100% capacity over the next 30-plus years.

• Delivering sufficient supplies of natural gas to the domestic gas market.

• Improving our international competitiveness to attract ongoing investment.

Hearne went on to outline Chevron’s interconnected basin vision involving a gas gathering system underpinned by shared infrastructure.

Hearne proposed a Trans Carnarvon Basin Trunkline, which would be a multiuser offshore pipeline that would create a truly interconnected basin, he said.

Such a pipeline system would span the width of the Carnarvon basin and link remote gas accumulations such as the Scarborough, Thebe, and the Exmouth plateau fields to the existing gas facilities such as the North West Shelf, Pluto, and Wheatstone.

Hearne added that the system would enable gas from offshore fields to flow to where it is needed, and when it is needed via an onshore interconnector across the Burrup Peninsula.

He said combining this with existing pipelines to shore that interconnect with the Dampier to Bunbury trunkline would result in opportunities for system optimization and value creation.

The concept would improve the likelihood of development of a number of fields including some that are currently uneconomic, remote, and deep.

It would minimize duplication of pipeline infrastructure and keep established gas processing plants full. It would also deliver greater domestic gas volumes to shore enabled by increased LNG volumes and it would reduce the industry’s environmental footprint by having a smaller number of pipelines.