Cooper Energy JV commits to upgrade, restart Minerva gas plant
Cooper Energy Ltd., Adelaide, and its Japanese JV partner Mitsui Group made a $37-million (Aus.) final investment decision to upgrade and restart the Minerva gas plant near Port Campbell in western Victoria.
The JV has already spent $17.8 million (Aus.) purchasing the plant last December and performing a front-end engineering and design program aimed at upgrading the facility and connecting it to process gas produced from the JV’s existing offshore Otway basin gas fields at Casino, Henry, and Netherby in licences L24 and L30.
Cooper is operator with 50% interest. Mitsui has the remaining 50% interest in the plant and the gas fields (OGJ Online, May 1, 2018).
The new infrastructure work at the plant will enable it to receive 16 petajoules of gas that has yet to be developed.
Cooper managing director, David Maxwell said Minerva was a “shovel-ready” project that will see Cooper and Mitsui upgrade the idle plant to be a processing hub for local production and new discoveries in the offshore Otway basin.
The investment follows the successful exploration by the JV that resulted in the recent Annie-1 gas discovery – the first offshore discovery in southeast Australia in 7 years.
Maxwell said the project will initially connect gas from four offshore wells (Casino-4, Casino-5, Henry-2, and Netherby-1) to the plant via a pipeline tie-in and minor modifications. Maxwell said this will improve recovery because of a lower plant inlet pressure and provide a firm supply of gas to the Victorian market.
First gas is expected during the September quarter of 2021, but will ultimately be dependent on any further supply chain disruption arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Minerva plant has the capacity to process up to 150 terajoules/day of gas.
Maxwell said the plant will be renamed the Athena gas plant in recognition of the expansion to its original role as a dedicated plant supplied by BHP Petroleum’s (now depleted) Minerva offshore gas field to a hub for gas supply from current Otway fields and future discoveries.
