Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Government concludes acquisition of controversial gas hub land north of Broome - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Government concludes acquisition of controversial gas hub land north of Broome - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

It now officially owns 3,414 hectares at the site.
The Premier Colin Barnett says it will be up to oil and gas companies to develop it.
While Woodside chose another option, Mr Barnett hopes other Browse developers will use the land as a supply base.
"Then companies using that site will lease the land off the government but the government will not be building infrastructure for the oil and gas industry, I think they've enough money to build their own infrastructure," he said.
"The agreement that's been put in place and backed up through Parliament is that it not be an industrial site with chemical industries and the like, it is simply a gas processing and supply base.
"A supply base is largely a marina, we're not talking about massive ocean vessels coming in there; these are supply boats that might be 60, 70, 80 metres long.
"They will simply take out suppliers' equipment."

To these we gave boiled Rice, and with it Turtle and Manatee boiled. They did greedily devour what we gave them, but took no notice of the Ship, or any thing in it, and when they were set on Land again, they ran away as fast as they could (Dampier 1998 [1697]).

WE WILL NOT RUN AWAY, WE WILL STAND AND CHALLENGE YOUR EVER MOVE, WE WILL NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER GIVE IN, IN OUR PROTECTION OF COUNTRY, COMMUNITY AND CULTURE.

Can someone please explain to me how you can steal land twice? The land in question was Crown land before it was compulsory acquisitioned.

This is not so much about processing off shore gas, this is about processing the fracked gas/oil from the Canning Basin (which has 13 times more gas than the Browse) and opening up the whole of the Kimberley. We must ensure that all proposed infrastructure projects for the Kimberley, ports, power station, roads, storage facilities are challenged and never established.

“There is, especially in public life, no more beautiful a characteristic than truth, Truth is of its essence liberating; it is possessed of no contrivance or conceit it provides the only genuine basis for progress. By overturning the lie of terra nullius, the notion that at sovereignty the continent was possessed by no one, the High Court not only opened a route to indigenous land, it rang a bell which reminded us that our future could only be found in truth.” Paul Keating, Lowitja O’Donoghue Oration, May31,2011.

All Australian economic development on Aboriginal land needs to be in accordance with the principle of Indigenous Free Prior Informed Consent (IFPIC). The compulsory acquisition of Walmadany and the formal bureaucratic methods used to continue the theft of indigenous lands and the Native Title managed corrupted process that took place will be contested in the courts in the light of social justice.

We will fight to bring the laws and processes into line with the principles of IFPIC. We must confront all the fracking; we must again face these adversaries for our future, the planet and our children. As the Philippians face their current calamity of crisis we must also absorb these facts that the earth is no longer the safe and nurturing planet as it has been. We must face the truth and plan accordingly, its no longer sustainable to continue on this route these abrasive white gluttonous cronies seek to drag us. Enough is enough!

15 comments:

  1. What a load of crap.

    Talk to anyone and no one believes ANYONE - not the government or oil and gas companies - will spend the $2 billion to put a supply base in the worst spot around for a supply base.

    Ken Baston wants $200 million to upgrade Broome port for a supply base and export cattle and ocean liners and everything else.

    Barnett must have done this just to prove his government could do a CA - so there!

    4th time lucky?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Also had to laugh -

      It wasn't a gas plant - it was a fridge.

      It isn't a supply base - it's a marina.

      Oh and there wont be any chemical industries there either!

      HMMMM - in that case why would you need 3414 hectares for a little old marina?

      Delete
    2. Even those gas loving, money hungry, greedy, self centred, big business friendly, liberal pigs among us will see how irresponsible he is being with the states money. $30m for land that no company will ever develop, and now the states lawyers will have to go back to ground zero again on this one. And WHEN they lose again, the state forks out again for both parties legal fees. He lives in colins land, and no one else is there!

      Delete
    3. Broome port is very sheltered and JPP is very exposed.

      The interruptions to work and loading at JPP because of this,and the shallow reefs and very hard rock close to shore that would make dredging too expensive,were just some of the reasons Worley Parsons put JPP last on their list of places for a supply base.

      JPP is not suitable for a "land backed" supply base - it would have to have a jetty neck just like Broome port.

      So then to enable a JPP facility to operate 24/7 huge breakwaters would have to be constructed.

      This then goes back to some of Woodside's problems with the lack of available rock close by and the effect of 10 mtr + tides and storms making ongoing maintenance dredging a "life of project" necessity.

      None of these problems exist at Broome port and Ken Baston has said $200 million should do it,not just for a supply base,but for cattle and ocean liners,fishing boats and everything else.

      Compare that to JPP at $2 billion + cost and time blowouts due to weather the soft sea floor and other problems with the site.And of course the ongoing cost of lost time operations due to weather and the high ongoing maintenance.

      Not to mention having all the industries relocate from Broome to JPP and having to construct an all weather heavy haul road all the way out there.

      The base would have to supply fuel,water and all else and have it's own medical centre and a helipad/airport.

      It would have to be a small town in itself with all the services a small town has to have.

      On top of all this there would be massive community opposition.

      A world of pain!

      Delete
  2. Frackers Turn To Recycling As Water Supplies Fall Short, Tech Costs Fall

    MIDLAND, Texas (AP) — When the rain stopped falling in Texas, the prairie grass yellowed, the soil cracked and oil drillers were confronted with a crisis. After years of easy access to cheap, plentiful water, the land they prized for its vast petroleum wealth was starting to dry up.

    At first, the drought that took hold a few years ago seemed to threaten the economic boom that arose from hydraulic fracturing, a drilling method that uses huge amounts of high-pressure, chemical-laced water to free oil and natural gas trapped deep in underground rocks. But drillers have found a way to get by with much less water: They recycle it using systems that not long ago they may have eyed with suspicion.

    "This was a dramatic change to the practices that the industry used for many, many years," said Paul Schlosberg, co-founder and chief financial officer of Water Rescue Services, the company that runs recycling services for Fasken Oil and Ranch in West Texas, which is now 90 percent toward its goal of not using any freshwater for fracturing, or "fracking," as it is commonly known.

    Before the drought, "water was prevalent, it was cheap and it was taken for granted," he added.

    Just a few years ago, many drillers suspected water recyclers were trying to sell an unproven idea designed to drain money from multimillion dollar businesses. Now the system is helping drillers use less freshwater and dispose of less wastewater. Recycling is rapidly becoming a popular and economic solution for a burgeoning industry.

    The change is happening so swiftly that regulators are racing to keep up and in some cases taking steps to make it easier for drillers to recycle.

    Fracking operations require millions of gallons of relatively clean water. Each time a well is drilled, about 20 percent of the water eventually remerges, but it is jam-packed with contaminants from drilling chemicals and heavy metals picked up when the water hits oil. Until recently, that water was dumped as waste, often into injection wells deep underground.

    Many companies, each using slightly different technology and methods, are offering ways of reusing that water. Some, like Schlosberg's Water Rescue Services, statically charge the water to allow particles of waste to separate and fall to the bottom. Those solids are taken to a landfill, leaving more than 95 percent of the water clean enough to be reused for fracking.

    Other operators, such as Walton, Ky.-based Pure Stream, offer two technologies — one that cleans water so it can be reused in the oil patch and another more expensive system that renders it clean enough to be dumped into rivers and lakes or used in agriculture.

    Todd Ennenga, Pure Stream's vice president of business development, said interest in the technology has doubled in the past year alone.

    Some others tout methods that leave behind no solid waste at all, eliminating the need to transport anything to a landfill. A few companies insist they can frack without any water.

    "It's really taken off," Ennenga said of recycling. Two years ago, he said, most operators were still vetting the different systems. These days, they have a plan and are saying, "We need to do this right now."

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  3. Frackers Turn To Recycling As Water Supplies Fall Short, Tech Costs Fall

    In Texas, the fracking boom began around 2009, just as the state fell into years of drought. Especially hard-hit were South and West Texas, where rock formations have proven to be rich sources of oil and gas. Residents who were told to cut back on lawn watering and car washing grumbled about drillers hogging water supplies.

    Similar issues have arisen in arid parts of Wyoming, North Dakota, New Mexico and Colorado.

    Farther east, states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, face different issues. There, water is relatively plentiful but disposal of wastewater has been bureaucratically difficult and expensive, while the sites that can collect it are scarce.

    States are scrambling to draft regulations for the new recycling systems.

    In Texas, requests for recycling permits rose from fewer than two a year in 2011 to 30 approved applications in fiscal year 2012. So the Texas Railroad Commission, the agency that oversees oil and gas operations, revamped the rules in March, eliminating the need for drillers to get a permit if they recycle on their own lease or on a third-party's property.

    Commission spokeswoman Ramona Nye said in an email that the new rules are designed to "help operators enhance their water conservation efforts" and encourage recycling.

    In Ohio, disposing of drilling wastewater has hit some obstacles. Activity at a deep injection well near Youngstown was tied to one in a series of earthquakes, and a former officer of the firm that ran the operation has been indicted in connection with a separate dumping incident that allegedly violated the Clean Water Act. That led to a temporary moratorium on disposal sites in that region, stricter rules and an EPA review.

    Pennsylvania, meanwhile, has few dumping sites, and operators once paid large sums to haul wastewater to Ohio. Recycling has now become cheaper, and transports to Ohio have dwindled.

    Back in Texas, Fasken Oil and Ranch believes it solved many of its early problems with the containment pools, tanks, pipelines and trailers. Within six months, the company expects to reach its goal of using no freshwater in its fracking operations — a feat made possible by combining recycled water with briny water drawn from an aquifer and treated.

    Then Fasken will start applying the same methods at drilling sites in South Texas and New Mexico, Manager Jimmy Davis said.

    "We face the same problems," Davis said. "There's not an abundance of freshwater."

    ___

    Associated Press writer Julie Carr Smyth contributed to this report from Columbus, Ohio.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't recall our local government ever discussing this?



    http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20131111/pdf/42krx8vnzhj76j.pdf



    Company Interview question:






    Do you have final costing for export of oil from Wyndham and what do you think the costs and timing are likely to be for export through Broome?






    Managing Director, Keiran Wulff






    Export of oil through Wyndham was driven by availability of existing infrastructure at that port and the shorter trucking distances compared to the initial operation where we trucked the initial clean-up production to BP at Kwinana.



    We have recently completed negotiations for the trucking contract with Hampton Transport and we are very pleased that we have been able to support a very competitive local Kimberley based contractor. Early export from Wyndham gives us the ability to get SE Asian refining customers familiar with Ungani crude which is high quality. Using Wyndham also provides local jobs and utilises local suppliers which is a core objective for the Company.



    To support the anticipated expansion and commitment to full field development after the drilling of the Ungani appraisal well we are actively evaluating closer options to reduce trucking and export costs. Following our announcement to initially commence export from Wyndham, we received very strong indications from the Broome local government, business and community that they are very much anticipating us using Broome in due course.



    The great thing about Broome is that the port has extensive existing facilities and until fairly recently, crude had been exported from the port for many years. A significant amount of refined product is now imported through the port utilising the existing crude oil export tank and facilities. As that existing crude oil storage tank is now being used for diesel storage, before we export from Broome we need to find a storage solution for Ungani crude. Apart from that, there is really nothing else that needs to be done – as I said, the wharf and port are already used for large volumes of petroleum products and the previous Canning Basin oil production all went through Broome. As for costs, we need to finalise our commercial negotiations but we would expect to see a dramatic reduction in costs through Broome.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think the Wyndam contract is only for 2 triple road trains for about 2 years.

      In the meantime the Broome tank etc will be up graded to take more crude while Buru & co. see if they can up the Ungani output.

      Campbell makes the point "people don't realise oil has been exported out of Broome for over 30 years" - in reference to Blina.

      Does this need to be a Shire thing or is it a port thing with the government?

      Delete
    2. I think they need a production licence first before they can do much.

      Campbell is not our local government.

      "We have very strong indications from the local government", the local government haven't, as a council, discussed this, so who in the local government is giving 'strong indications' and what right do they have to do so? Same old bullshit all over again.

      How much oil was being shipped out by Blina?
      I think Buru will initially be trucking about 1000 bopd to Wyndham. This will increase significantly by the time they get to shipping out of Broome.

      How much?
      How big a storage tank? Where?
      How often is a ship in?
      Will this affect other uses of the jetty?

      Bit to think about but as usual the BCOC and cronies are salivating.

      Delete
    3. The oil trucked down to Broome from Blina varied so much both in volume and quality that is a hard question to answer.

      "..the Blina oilfield which was the first commercial oil discovery in the Canning Basin.

      It is presently wholly owned and operated by Buru Energy Limited.

      Its discovery in 1981 led to a mini exploration boom in the basin. The Blina field is located in onshore Production Licence L6 in the Canning Basin, 105 kilometres east-southeast of Derby.

      The field was discovered in May 1981, by Home Oil Australia with the drilling of Blina 1, which intersected two distinct reservoirs, namely the Upper Devonian (Famennian) Nullara Limestone Formation (Nullar Oil Pool) and the Lower Carboniferous dolomitic Yellow Drum Formation (Yellow Drum Oil Pool). The development of vugs in these carbonate reservoirs has resulted in excellent permeability. A drill-stem test of the Nullara Limestone produced 35.7degree API (American Petroleum Institute) oil at a rate of 144 kL/d (905 bbl/d) through a 12.7 mm (1/2") choke. A drillstem test of the Yellow Drum Formation produced 36.7° API oil at a rate of 5.7 kL/d (36 bbl/d). A total of eight wells have now been drilled in the field, four of which produced from the Nullara Limestone (1, 2, 3 and 5) and two from the Yellow Drum Formation (4 and 6). The other two wells did not intersect reservoirs. Blina 4 was subsequently re-completed and produced from the Nullara Limestone.

      Production from the Blina field commenced on 17 October 1983 and to date over 1.5 MILLION BARRELS of oil has been produced. "

      ..


      "Kimberley Oil unveils plans to revive Blina oilfield

      Wednesday, 13 March 2002

      Kimberley Oil today unveiled plans to dramatically increase production from its 20-year old Blina Oilfield near Derby. The company, which has a 87% stake in the field, said it intends to undertake workovers of three existing inactive wells and to drill one new well This would be the first well to be drilled in the field for over nine years.

      The field currently has eight production wells, which at a 98% water content, produces around 80 barrels of oil per day.

      ......Kimberley Oil currently produces around 80 barrels of oil per day from Blina, but believes its exploration and workover program could boost this dramatically. Dr Gellatly said existing production and marketing infrastructure would enable it to turn to revenue any increase in production within four to six weeks of completion."

      ..


      Buru Energy’s Ungani oil field tantalises with higher production potential
      Monday, January 07, 2013 by Bevis Yeo

      Ungani 2 produced at 700 barrels of oil a day with a 25% water cut after it was brought back into production, up from the previous 500 barrels of oil with a 35% water cut, highlighting the production potential of the Ungani field.

      The well has subsequently had to be further choked back to constrain production due to trucking capacity limitations.



      ..

      Buru Energy secures funding $100M package for Canning Basin oil development and gas appraisal
      Thursday, August 08, 2013 by Bevis Yeo

      ....This will be followed by drilling of the Ungani-3 appraisal well followed by horizontal production and water injector wells with initial production targeted at up to 3,000 barrels of oil during 2014 and increasing to 5,000bpd or more by the end of 2014 as additional production wells are drilled.


      ....


      Ungani Oilfield

      .



      Full field development will have a small surface footprint. It is likely to have two small well pads and a central crude oil production facility connected by underground pipes. The size of the current facility is likely to be sufficient for the full scale production facilities.

      It is anticipated the field will be brought into full production at a target rate of 5,000 barrels of oil during the first half of 2014.


      ...


      Delete
    4. Presuming this is US barrels.

      The litres in crude oil barrel are 159 litres which is equal to 35 imperial gallon and 42 US gallons.

      Texas Crude Oil Density = 873 kg / cubic meter

      1 cubic meter = 264.172 gallons
      1 barrel of oil = 42 gallons
      42 gallons * (1 cubic meter / 264.172 gallons) = .15898 cubic meters / barrel
      .15808 cubic meters / barrel * (873 kg /cubic meter) = 138.8 kg / barrel of oil

      3,000 barrels per day = 416400 kgs

      A triple road train would carry about = 90,000 kgs
      (depending on how many axles)

      So 5 triple road trains per day.

      ..

      5,000 barrels per day = 694,000 kgs.

      8 triple road trains per day.

      ...


      The port of Broome Oil Terminal: depth 26 - 30 feet 7.1 - 9.1 meters

      A 35,000 Handysize Product Oil Tanker
      Draft mld 9.75m

      ..

      So a guess - if the tanker can load 15,000 tonnes of crude oil.

      = about 108,000 barrels of crude oil.

      @ 5,000 bopd = about 22 days production.

      @ 3,000 bopd = about 36 days production.

      ..


      I guess a tank to hold 2 shiploads would be good so that's :

      216,000 barrels of crude,

      x by 42 = 9,072,000 gallons

      1 cu mtr = 264.172 gallons

      = 34,341 cu mtrs

      So a 40,000 cu mtr tank.

      The new water tank on blackman street is 15 million litres.

      Or 15,000 cu mtrs.

      The oil tank would be over twice as big.

      ...


      Where?
      Over the back near the other one.

      ..

      A ship every 4 weeks.

      ..


      I guess for safety the jetty would have to close for loading - so a day every few weeks.

      ............


      I know I took the long way round - but here it is !

      Done.

      Delete
  5. Waterplex Water Bladder Tanks Supplied to Gorgon Project (Australia)

    Waterplex of Australia developed, supplied and installed 3 x 1 mega litre water bladder tanks for water storage for the Chevron-operated Gorgon LNG project on Barrow Island.

    Water is a critical resource required for the construction of facilities for the Chevron-operated LNG development on Barrow Island. The Gorgon development needed short term, large capacity and cost-effective water storage tanks for three million litres of water storage for construction on the island.

    Each mega bladder tank measures 1024m² when deployed and fills to 1.1m in height. The Gorgon development bladder tanks are the largest bladder tanks ever made, supplied and deployed in Australia.

    The water from the bladder tanks is used for dust suppression and construction of the facilities required for the Gorgon Project. The three mega litre water storage project was delivered and deployed in full and on time by Waterplex.

    ReplyDelete
  6. FMC Commissioner Talks US LNG Exports with Japanese Officials

    Commissioner William P. Doyle met last week with Japanese public and private sector officials to discuss U.S. natural gas, exports, and the Panama Canal.

    Japan is the world’s largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The country has relied on imported natural gas for decades as part of its energy portfolio. However, the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, disabled the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Subsequently Japan has increased its level of reliance on LNG imports.

    The U.S. may become an important LNG supply source for Japan in the coming years. With the widening of the Panama Canal expected to be completed in 2015, LNG exported from the U.S. to Asia would save nearly 2 weeks transit time if the Panama Canal is utilized. Currently, there are no LNG tankers utilizing the Panama Canal.

    “Japanese officials are interested in learning more about the tolls and cost structure associated with LNG tankers transiting the Canal,” said Commissioner Doyle. He continued, “It’s important that the toll structure and economics work for all parties – Panama wants LNG business which it does not have right now – natural gas produced in the U.S. must compete on the world market with LNG from Russia, Australia and the Middle East – and Asia is where the demand will come from.”

    Japanese interests have actively pursued discussions with the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) on transit costs; the Japanese Shipowners Association and some of its auto-manufacturers were one of the first groups to engage in substantive talks with the ACP.

    ACP officials have been conducting meetings with all segments of the maritime industry on the waterways toll structure. In early October, ACP Administrator Jorge Quijano met with the Union of Greek Shipowners, the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (INTERTANKO) and the International Association of Dry Cargo Shipowners (INTERCARGO) in Greece.

    The ACP is consulting with the Society of the International Gas Tankers and Terminal Operators (SIGTTO) to determine how it can best serve the LNG market. According to its website, SIGTTO’s purpose is to promote shipping and terminal operations for “liquefied gases which are safe, environmentally responsible and reliable.”

    Commissioner Doyle committed to work with the Japanese and all interested parties to ensure usage of the expanded Panama Canal is a success.

    The Obama Administration is focused on U.S. manufacturing and exports.

    In September the U.S. Department of Energy conditionally approved the fourth LNG terminal for the export of natural gas.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Canada: EAO, BC OGC to Streamline Permitting for LNG Projects

    A new Memorandum of Understanding will streamline environmental assessments and permitting for liquefied natural gas projects by reducing duplication and improving timeliness.

    The BC Oil and Gas Commission and the Environmental Assessment Office regulate many of the same projects in the oil and gas sector. By co-ordinating their work and sharing information, the two agencies will manage a single, predictable regulatory regime for LNG projects, from inception through closure.

    “Under this memorandum, the Environmental Assessment Office and the BC Oil and Gas Commission will work together to reduce duplication and shorten the time it takes to get an approved project up and running,” Environment Minister Mary Polak said. “At the same time, by strengthening compliance and enforcement efforts, they will maintain and even enhance environmental protection.”

    Improvements include:
    ◾Sharing information to eliminate the need for companies to submit the same reports to both agencies.
    ◾Working with companies to identify opportunities for environmental assessments (Environmental Assessment Office) and permitting reviews (BC Oil and Gas Commission) to run concurrently, reducing the overall time required to authorize a project.
    ◾Sharing information and attending meetings together to ensure a comprehensive ‎and respectful approach to First Nations’ engagement.
    ◾Joint inspections for a co-ordinated approach to compliance with environmental assessment certificate and permit conditions.

    “Developing a globally competitive liquefied natural gas industry is a priority for our government,” Natural Gas Development Minister Rich Coleman said. “With these changes, we will ensure both a rigorous and timely review of applications in British Columbia.”

    The BC Oil and Gas Commission and the Environmental Assessment Office will begin implementing the memorandum immediately, including communicating with the industry and others about the implications for current and future LNG developments in the province.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I value the information on your web site. Thanks for your time!

    ReplyDelete