Emperor Energy Ltd., Sydney, entered a binding agreement with APA Group for pre-front end engineering and design work on Judith gas field in Gippsland basin permit Vic/P47 off eastern Victoria to the north and east of ExxonMobil-BHP’s producing Bass Strait fields.
Emperor, which holds 100% interest in the permit, said the pre-FEED study will include early design for a gas processing plant to be located adjacent to the existing Orbost plant owned by APA and currently processing gas from Cooper Energy’s Sole field.
The pre-FEED work will also involve concept design for a 40-km subsea pipeline from Judith to shore and a design for an export pipeline from the gas plant to the Eastern Gas Pipeline that runs up the east coast to Sydney.
The pre-FEED study is expected to begin in July and take 4 months to complete. The design basis for the plant is production of 80 MMcf/d (90 terajoules/day) of sales gas for a project life of 25 years.
Emperor and APA signed a memorandum of understanding for the Judith gas project in October 2019. The pre-FEED agreement is the first binding agreement to come from that MoU.
Judith field was discovered by Shell in 1989. Emperor received an independent resource statement for the field in July 2019 estimating a 2C contingent gas resource of 150 bcf and a 2C contingent condensate resource of 2.2 million bbl.
Water depth across the permit varies from 20-85 m.