Woodside stated that "We have completed our main survey activities for 2012 and crews are demobilising," yesterday.
But this time last year, Woodside, in their preparation for the wet season, were erecting the fencing and installing cameras on the perimeter. The fuel tank was also left during the wet last year but this has also been removed from the site.
What the article in today’s Australian fails to address is the fact that Woodside did not implement their planned and Development Assessment Panel approved activities.
The Communication (Meteorological) Tower was not developed in accordance with Woodside’s P3 – P6 plans.
Hydrological Investigations including up to three drill pads, two turkey nest dams, and one lay down area that should have included workers accommodation within either of the two sites Woodside indicated on their P2 was not developed in accordance with their P7 – P10 plan.
Only one turkey dam was constructed and this has now been filled back in and the top soil and mulching material has been spread across the site. The drill pads were not constructed on concreted pads and their drill sites did not operate 24/7 for nine months as outline in their planning application. No workers accommodation - transportable accommodation and all associated facilities proposed for 24 people were not built.
The geotechnical Investigations and related activities including clearing within their the area marked on P2 as the Vegetation Clearing Permit (CPS3771) area and on plans P11 and P12 for the areas on both the east and west side of Manari Road were not undertaken.
A helicopter landing zone within their area marked on their plan P2 was not developed in accordance with plan P13 & 14. It was not established as all.
No Lay down area, access tracks and fencing to the areas on the west side of Manari Road was undertaken.
There are serious questions about whether Woodside’s Licence to Occupy Crown Land in accordance with Section 91 of the Administration of Land Act is still valid as this Licence expired on the 24th October 2012. There is no evidence that this Licence was extended.
The rehabilitation of the site is to be carried out in accordance with a rehabilitation component of Woodside’s Environmental Management Plan as approved by the Shire of Broome and the Department of Environment and Conservation. This should include but is not limited to the rehabilitation of the site upon cessation of activities approved.
Meanwhile, something is cooking in Beagle Bay, with Woodside planning to hold a community water information session about Beagle Bay’s water and how Woodside intend to utilize it.
Fears mount for Woodside's $40bn Browse gas project | The Australian:
WOODSIDE Petroleum has dismantled its work compound at James Price Point in the Kimberley amid mounting speculation that its planned $40 billion Browse gas project will be developed offshore using floating LNG technology.
However, Woodside did not remove the 10,000sq m compound that contains machinery, transportable buildings, a generator and a medical station before last year's wet season.
The move comes as Woodside evaluates the tender bids for construction of the Browse project amid estimates that cost of a greenfields project in the Kimberley is likely to be prohibitive.
The company is expected to have finished analysing the tenders within weeks and the Browse joint venture will be in a position to make a final decision on James Price Point during the first half of next year.
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett yesterday confirmed he was lobbying against oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell's mounting push to stop the gas coming onshore by developing Browse using FLNG.
The Australian reported yesterday that Mr Barnett was aiming to pressure Browse partners Woodside, Shell, BHP Billiton, BP, Mitsubishi and Mitsui to process the gas at James Price Point.
Shell's preference for FLNG could end the environmental controversy over the use of James Price Point, 60km north of the tourist town of Broome. Mr Barnett and his advisers have told senior executives in the oil and gas industry that the Premier would do all he could to ensure Shell was unable to use its expanded equity stake in Browse to process the gas offshore.
The Premier yesterday denied he would "campaign" against Shell but said he would "strongly support" the gas coming onshore at James Price Point.
"I'm not supportive of proposals or suggestions of a floating LNG project," he said.
"That would be building, probably in The Philippines or somewhere else, a major structure, bigger than aircraft carriers, that would be moored 200km off the coast.
"There will not be a single job for Australian workers in building that. There may well be a foreign crew on it. And that would mean that that gas would never come onshore to be part of the West Australian or, indeed, national economy."
Shell's surprise move in August to pay $450 million to triple its stake in the Browse project has increased speculation that it will push for FLNG.
Shell is already using FLNG for its Prelude gasfield and is planning to roll out a fleet of vessels that can exploit other remote fields.
A Woodside spokeswoman confirmed yesterday that the 10,000sq m compound at James Price Point had been removed in recent days but said survey work would restart early next year.
"We have completed our main survey activities for 2012 and crews are demobilising," she said.
"Equipment is being removed and the site is being made safe for anticipated rain and high winds.
"Some activities will continue over the wet season and we will recommence our survey activities in 2013, subject to relevant approvals and weather conditions."
Photo Damian Kelly
Posts
I posted this below but will repost it here:
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot more to this FLNG stoush than meets the eye.Barnett has described Shell's plan to FLNG Browse,instead of the JPP option,as "a dangerous precedent."Why?
I believe the answer goes a bit further than first imagined.
OK some simple sums,which may be a bit off,but any way.$60 - $70 billion for 15 mtpa = $4-$5 billion per 1 mtpa.
3 FLNG @ 5 mtpa at say $10 billion each = $2 billion per 1 mtpa.
1/2 the price or less.
So on with the story:
Thats Browse done.Now the problem with Pluto.
Woodside have said they may have to build more billion dollar storage tanks depending on the heat value of any other gas they have to source.They have said train 2 may have to be a "baby" at about 2 - 3 mtpa.
So,and haven't read this anywhere else yet,why not build train 2 at sea over the field?One barge at 5 mtpa gives them trains 2 and 3.1 or 2 LNG ships converted to FLNG gives them 2 - 4 mtpa.
Thats Pluto fixed for 2 extra trains at $10 billion or less.For a cost of about $2 billion per 1 mtpa.
Now Gorgon,the JVP are arguing over the timing for train 4,oh and that pesky deal about having to sequester x amount of carbon back into the old wells.
Why not build train 4 at sea parked over the gas field,it is now easy for them to return any unwanted pollutants directly into the old wells.Space on Barrow island is getting scarce,seen the Google Earth lately,mind boggling.
Thats trains 4 - 5 and onward for Gorgon.
Wheatstone same.
And on and on it goes to all the others.
A very dangerous precedent indeed - for big spender Barnett that is.
With big changes like this should come new laws.The States at the moment do not get any benefits from FLNG in Commonwealth waters.This new technology demands change.
It will be WA ports and airfields that will service these new age plants,so come on pollies lets get with it and get some new agreements/laws in place for this FLNG
Environs Kimberley on their Facebook page are saying,"News on how much cheaper floating is compared to James Price Point and the North West Shelf coming soon. Watch this space...
DeleteShould be very interesting!
BCNGC are reporting:
BHP Billiton is considering shipping a portion of its US shale gas reserves to Asia, a strategy that would reshape the global gas industry and compete with exports from Australia’s huge liquefied natural gas projects in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland.
..
The world’s largest resources group said it was “studying closely” opportunities for LNG exports from the US to Asia, spurred by interest from Japanese power utilities seeking shale gas, which sells for about a quarter of the price of LNG imports.
....
A collapse in US gas prices after BHP’s acquisition of 30 trillion-plus cubic feet of gas resources, plus oil resources, for $US20 billion last year led it to reassess its shale gas strategy, which was aimed at US customers.
“It’s not just us that want to do this,” said Mike Yeager, the chief executive of BHP’s petroleum division. “The Asian companies are calling us every day, wanting us to help them do it. Really, the pull is that strong.”
Mr Yeager expressed concern about the cost of developing Australian gas fields. The budgets of new LNG projects in Australia and Papua New Guinea have blown out by $16 billion since May last year.
ExxonMobil, Oil Search and Santos yesterday raised their estimated cost of PNG LNG by $US3.3 billion to $US19 billion and cited the higher than expected Australian dollar, delays in accessing land, bad weather and logistical difficulties.
Yeager worried WA Gas too costly
A shale gas boom has transformed the US into a potential gas exporter for the first time and could bring cheaper gas supplies to fuel power plants in Japan and South Korea.
The International Energy Agency yesterday predicted the US will overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia and become the world’s largest global oil producer by 2017 through oil obtained from shale gas fields.
It may be more attractive for BHP to export gas from the US rather than from Western Australia, where LNG ventures are struggling with escalating costs. BHP was an early investor in WA’s North-West Shelf gas fields and still has interests there.
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BHP Yeager is keen on Canning Basin gas.BHP is supporting Shell to develope Browse with FLNG.Could he be hinting of piping CB gas to the NWS ? Or where ?
BHP Billiton says it is in talks with land and permit holders in the Canning Basin as it works out whether to extend its $US20 billion Texas shale push into WA.
The mining giant's petroleum boss, Mike Yeager, said Australia's "preferential location" to Asian LNG customers meant BHP had to look at unconventional opportunities here, and he singled out the onshore Canning Basin in the Kimberley as a key target.
But Mr Yeager also warned of the logistical challenges in WA, and costs, and said any gas discovered was likely to have to be exported.
During a wide-ranging discussion with media in his Houston head office late last week, Mr Yeager stressed that key ingredients of his US shale push were a huge domestic gas market and existing pipeline infrastructure - two obvious challenges in WA.
"We have looked at every basin there (in Australia) in great detail," Mr Yeager said. "What we are trying to figure out (is) if we got a bunch more gas there in the Canning Basin, something in the shale there, it looks like we have to get it out of the country in order to make it work, so you have got that kind of economics. In the Canning Basin there are some things there that look pretty good but the transportation . . . is a long, long way away.
See Water Corp are expanding the bore fields way north and have drilled two wells at the old station dam just before the end of the bitumen - opposite the old Waterbank homestead track.Running out of water.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.water.wa.gov.au/PublicationStore/first/101814.pdf
Water quality
Water from the Broome aquifer is sodium chloride type, with occasional high
bicarbonate and sulfate concentrations. Magnesium and sulfate appear to be
associated with saltwater intrusion and the aquifer generally has high silica content.
Generally groundwater in the Broome aquifer is fresh inland, becoming marginal to
saline at the coast (Figure 12). In the south-west of the peninsula, saltwater intrusion
(from the sea) has led to an increase in salinity along the coast and at depths further
inland (~ 10 km), most likely brought about by groundwater abstraction. Although it
was not possible to determine the location of the saltwater interface, in the north of
the peninsula ~ 8 km inland, Rockwater (2004) calculated it could be 300 to 400m
below the watertable. Salinities from the Broome town water supply borefield suggest
either upconing or intrusion is starting to affect water quality at depths of around
100m below ground level up to 10 km inland (Appendix B). The Water Corporation
has reduced its use of these bores and redesigned the borefield to minimise the risk
of saltwater intrusion or upconing.
...
Not much info at all.This tender :
https://www.tenders.wa.gov.au/watenders/contract/view.do?tenderId=22899
Department of Water
Address 168 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA , Australia, 6000
Reference number DOW1712
Associated with Tender Provision of Geophysical Exploration Services for the Dampier Peninsular (DOW1712)
Type of Work Goods and Services
Title Provision of Geophysical Exploration Services for the Dampier Peninsular
Description The Department of Water requires a service provider to conduct an airborne geophysical study of the Dampier Peninsular. The survey area contains sections for which high resolution data collection is required but for most of the survey area the collection of low resolution data is sufficient.
Closing Date 25 Jul, 2012
UNSPSC 1 Geophysical surveys - (100%)
Procurement Method Open tender
Period Contract No
Total Value of the Contract $779,237 (Estimate)
Region/s Kimberley
Award Date 7 Sep, 2012
Starting Date 11 Sep, 2012
Initial Expiry Date 10 Sep, 2013
Final Expiry Date 10 Sep, 2014
Number of Submissions 5
Contact Eilishia Bardoe
Phone OFFICE: (08) 63647434
E-Mail
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What,if anything would Woodside know about water at Beagle Bay ?????
WE SAID IT WOULD HAPPEN,WE WERE WAITING FOR IT .
ReplyDeleteHUGE WARNING FOR WOODSIDE!
http://www.smh.com.au/business/dollar-pumps-up-gorgon-cost-by-20b-20121114-29b6l.html
Dollar pumps up Gorgon cost by $20b
The Gorgon liquefied natural gas project faces a cost blowout as big as $20 billion linked to the strong dollar, and high labour and manufacturing expenses, according to media reports.
US-based oil giant Chevron is expected to reveal the $20 billion increase in the Western Australia project, taking its final cost to near $60 billion in total, by the end of the year, according to the Australian Financial Review.
Chevron has said the cost overruns have been driven by a strengthening Australian dollar since 2009 when it began construction on the Barrow Island LNG plant in WA.
Other factors adding to the higher price include "weather, logistics and labour productivity". Chevron's general manager for Australian operations, Brian Smith, refused to speculate on the the final price increase.
Advertisement
"The cost is still the same number at this point in time," Mr Smith told the AFR. "It may well be in the future or it might be some other number but right now that is the cost for Gorgon."
Spiralling costs of projects have become a feature of the Australian resources projects in the past year, even as the outlook for commodities prices becomes less certain. BHP Billiton yesterday revealed it was considering shipping a portion of its US-produced shale gas to Asia, which would undercut more expensive Australian gas.
Gas prices have plummeted amid the boom in shale gas production in the US.
In a more positive sign, BHP Billiton also said yesterday it had secured a four-year extension on the terms to expand its Olympic Dam mining project in South Australia. In August, the company said it would delay the venture because of wavering commodities prices and high costs.
Wish I had a subscription.
ReplyDeleteOn the record: Barnett’s vision looking cloudy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
James McGrath
SOMETIMES you just have to feel sorry for Colin Barnett.
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Sorry about that last line - cos no we dont.
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NOW BARNEY IS GETTING VERY JEALOUS!
CHINA BELONGS TO HIM - SO HANDS OFF EVERYONE ELSE.
Speaking on the first morning of the Australian Resources & Trade Show in Perth, Barnett said WA was more closely related to China than the rest of the country.
He said he became a “bit stressed” when hearing the perception the eastern states had of WA.
“China’s quarry, land of bogans and billionaires"
“It’s not a criticism, it’s just an observation,” he said.
“The Australia-China relationship is very much a China-Western Australia relationship.”
..
Barnett was very bullish on Chinese growth.
“The economy will not slow below 7 per cent,” he said.
“That’ll do us!
“It will sustain WA but it won’t sustain all of Australia.”
Barnett said Western Australians had come to expect volatile growth and the recent slowdown was a “bit of a flutter”.
“I reject both the boom and the bust talk,” he said.
“Don’t write Western Australia off.”
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THE world is facing a chronic skills shortage in crucial professions despite rising unemployment in an easing global economy, while demand for skills in Australia’s mining and resource sector remains high.
The Hays Global Skills Index, produced by recruitment specialists Hays in conjunction with Oxford Economics, revealed 16 of the 27 countries surveyed were suffering some degree of market tightness, despite the global economic slowdown.
The index had revealed a major paradox in global skilled labour markets, Hays chief executive Alistair Cox said.
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Chevron sounding just like Voelte when he had to explain Pluto to the markets,"on budget and on schedule."
Like bloody hell.Another dogs breakfast - and cyclone season upon us.
“Because there are a number of variables in play, we currently have a detailed cost review underway.
“Over the next few months, our assessments will help us gauge movements in costs, which we expect to provide towards the end of the year.”
Smith was giving absolutely nothing away when asked about the review’s progress to date.
“The cost is still the same number at this point in time,” Smith said.
“It may well be in the future or it might be some other number but right now that is the cost for Gorgon.
“I think it’s no surprise that the exchange rate has gone up and is higher than when the project was approved. [But] we’re not going to speculate on what that number is.”
“At least I’m not – I’m in operations.”
The latest non-committal from Chevron on costs and project timing comes as speculation shifts on whether there will be a cost blowout quantifying the blowout.
Some suggest the blowout may be as high as $20 billion, which would be a nearly 50% cost increase on the original scope of the project, not taking into account the cost of a fourth train.
Smith also confirmed that the front-end engineering and design work on the fourth train would take place by the end of the year, despite rumblings from joint venture partner ExxonMobil that the timeline may be a little too ambitious.
Just a touch of the Donald Rumsfelds in there as well.
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Greater union access to offshore rigs, both before and after incidents, is one of the key recommendations in a report released by the ACTU on the issue of offshore safety.
“Compared to onshore industries, offshore workers find it extremely difficult to have representatives, such as unions, visit them onsite
..
The report also found Australia’s offshore safety was lagging behind other jurisdictions and suggested the minister look at shortfalls in offshore petroleum and greenhouse gas storage legislation.
..
DO THEY GET IT? NO THEY DONT!
ReplyDeleteEven after this from the IEA :
IEA report reminds us peak oil idea has gone up in flames
The truly global implications of the 2012 report lie in the warning that we must leave most of our fossil fuels in the ground
The world's stock markets are sitting on toxic levels of subprime coal and gas, a giant carbon bubble ready to explode.
Given the bubbling cauldron of violence that the middle East so frequently and regrettably is, the prospect of the US outstripping Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest oil producer in the next decade is deeply striking. The redrawing of the geopolitical map may cool some tensions and perhaps spark others.
But the truly global implications of the International Energy Agency's flagship report for 2012 lie elsewhere, in the quietly devastating statement that no more than one-third of already proven reserves of fossil fuels can be burned by 2050 if the world is to prevent global warming exceeding the danger point of 2C. This means nothing less than leaving most of the world's coal, oil and gas in the ground or facing a destabilised climate, with its supercharged heatwaves, floods and storms.
..
What follows from this is that the idea of peak oil has gone up in flames. We do not have too little fossil fuel, we have far too much. It also follows directly that the world's stock markets are sitting on toxic levels of subprime coal and gas, a giant carbon bubble ready to explode.
How has it come to this? The simple answer is because the cost of the damage caused by carbon emissions is still not paid by the polluter. But the IEA's World Energy Outlook 2012 also highlights another huge problem which is throwing fuel on the fire: titanic subsidies for fossil fuels. The IEA estimates that $523bn was burned in cutting fossil fuel prices in 2011.
Coal, oil and gas are mature industries and should be more than able to stand on their own two feet by now. Renewable energy, in contrast, is relatively new and needs support in driving its costs down – which it is doing, fast – and to compensate for the market failures which mean greenhouse gases continue to be pumped into the atmosphere in ever greater quantities. Yet, in 2011, subsidies for renewables totalled only $88bn around the world, meaning fossil fuels received six times more. The dirty fuels also got a bigger increase in subsidies in 2011: 30%, compared to the 24% for renewables
..
But the obstacles to preventing runaway climate change remain formidable. First, the entire valuation of the world's fossil fuels has to undergo a massive downgrade, impossible without the tough global climate treaty that currently seems as far away as ever
..
Keith Allott, head of climate change at WWF-UK, said: "Many governments and businesses are clearly in denial over the threat posed by climate change and need to accept that we have to start leaving fossil fuels in the ground rather than dashing to develop new reserves. It's simply crazy to think otherwise." The problem is that right now, and for many people, it is leaving coal, gas and oil buried that seems the crazier option.
link to above article:
Deletehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2012/nov/12/iea-report-peak-oil
THIS FROM TODAY'S NEWS.IT IS JUST MINDBOGGLING.
ReplyDeleteIs global warming really that bad?
Noel Dyson
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
THERE are clear signs the polar sea ice is eroding – a clear sign to many that there is some environmental damage occurring.
However, this ice erosion could be a boon for oil and gas players.
Statoil has already made use of the clearer than normal waters in the Arctic Sea to use it as a route for an LNG shipment to Japan.
Now Globaldata reports the ice cap erosion may have another benefit for oil firms – it has uncovered a number of highly prized drilling locations.
These are located in a region estimated to hold almost 22% of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas resources.
Seven Arctic nations, such as Russia, Canada and Denmark, are staking their claims regarding the extended continental shelf.
Several national oil companies have undertaken exploration expeditions in the recently exposed regions in preparation for what they expect to be highly fruitful oil and gas production.
The problem, though, will be the environmental groups, which will probably not enjoy the irony of a situation created where fossil fuel use leads to global warming, leading to ice cap erosion, giving access to more fossil fuels.
Despite these concerns, major oil companies across Russia, Canada and beyond are tooling up and forming mutually beneficial partnerships with the aim of capitalising on what appears to be a highly attractive prospect.
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UN F**KING BELIEVABLE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!