Chaney says floating LNG processing most likely - Business - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):
Mr Chaney has told the ABC that while other options will be evaluated, floating LNG is the most likely to succeed.
"The capital cost of the floating LNG option is considerably cheaper," he said.
Photo Damian Kelly
ACTION OF THE DAY
A MAJOR national bank has been forced to remove more than 100 misleading out of order signs from its ATMs after being targeted by anti-coal activists.
A MAJOR national bank has been forced to remove more than 100 misleading out of order signs from its ATMs after being targeted by anti-coal activists.
A score of ANZ Banking Group machines sprawled across six capital cities were plastered with "out of order" signs on Sunday after campaigners launched their latest bid to draw attention to the bank's funding of the coal industry.
Posts
Way cheaper.
ReplyDelete12 Mtpa @ JPP = $46 billion + 50% = $69 billion.
12 Mtpa @ FLNG = 3 x FLNG under "build more - costs less" = 3 x $12 billion = $36 billion.
(or "design one build many" which Shell says will raise the Mtpa and lower the cost over time)
A massive saving of $33 billion.
AND no pipelines to lay and maintain.
AND no on going dredging.
As Cousins says the revenue stream is still the same,costs have halved,where is the $1.2 - $1.5 billion over the 50 - 70 + years?
THAT is only $20 to $30 million per annum.
For ALL the Kimberley.
So what to expect from Woodside and FLNG?
ReplyDeleteHere are some pages from Shell Prelude FLNG - some are still open.
..
http://www.projectconnect.com.au/Project_Preview.asp?PID=56038516
Prelude Project - Logistics and Infrastructure
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http://gateway.icn.org.au/project/2427/shell-prelude-flng-project
Work Packages
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Prelude will also have broader benefits for Australia, including the creation of hundreds of jobs and opportunities for Australian businesses, as well as improving Australia’s balance of trade and contributing significant tax revenues.
“According to an independent analysis by ACIL Tasman, over Prelude’s 25-year life, the project will add more than $45 billion to Australia’s gross domestic product, create approximately 350 direct and 650 indirect jobs, contribute total tax revenues of more than $12 billion, spend $12 billion on Australian goods and services, and improve Australia’s balance of trade by more than $18 billion through the export of LNG, LPG and condensate,” states Mr Steenson.
Mr Steenson says that Shell’s philosophy with Prelude was to design a facility that could be adapted to a number of gas fields around the world. Major gas companies are starting to recognise the possibilities of FLNG technology, with the Sunrise Joint Venture having selected FLNG as the preferred development option for its project. However, once Prelude is complete, Australia will be able to say “You saw it here first.”
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Shell commits to $25m Darwin supply base
March 7, 2013
Shell Australia has commissioned a $25 million onshore supply base in Darwin to support a planned floating LNG facility.
Engineering and construction company Decimal Group Limited (DGL) today announced it had been awarded a contract to build the supply base, which will provide logistics support to Shell’s Prelude Floating LNG Project.
The base will be located on Darwin’s East Arm Wharf, as onshore support for the LNG project.
The base will include an administration building, a climate controlled warehouse, storage yards, hard stands, a wash down pad, roads, and car parks.
Design and construction is expected to start in July, 2013 and take 12 months to complete.
.................
Shell has awarded Decmil Australia a $25 million contract to construct a major support facility in the Northern Territory.
The global energy company has engaged Decmil as the principal contractor for construction of the Darwin Onshore Supply Base to support its Prelude Floating LNG Facility.
As project manager, Decmil will have responsibility for the design and construction of the facility including detailed engineering, contracting, procurement, fabrication, transportation and all statutory and regulatory approvals.
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A page on some of the FLNG worldwide.
http://www.marinelink.com/maritime/flng
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http://www.investnt.com.au/investment-opportunities/opportunities/docs/presentation_MSB_potential_bidders.pdf
3. Planned and future oil and gas developments
• Ichthys Project
– Substantial construction phase
– Long term operational phase
• Shell Prelude (FLNG)
– Targeting Darwin as operation and maintenance base
• Sunrise (FLNG)
• Petrel/Tern/Frigate (FLNG)
• Future Expansion of DLNG
– Approvals up to 10Mtpa
• Ongoing Exploration Activity in the Region
(eg. Total Exploration in the Browse Basin)
..
• Dedicated Marine Facility for servicing
Rig Tenders
• Opportunity to expand for value adding
marine operations
– Drill Rig Maintenance
– Rig Tender Maintenance
• Adjacent Waterfront land for critical
supplies and storage
– Fuel
– Water
– Waste disposal
– Drilling Muds
– Chemicals
• Land potentially available for those
industries requiring close proximity to
berths
An appropriate transport regime within the precinct
• >200 Ha of adjacent industrial land on East Arm Peninsular and Winnellie
etc. (eg. Darwin Business Park) available for related oil and gas industries
such as a new Prelude services and maintenance base
..
Shell's supply base for FLNG in Darwin costs $25 million.
DeleteBarnett pays $30 million for JPP land,$150 million for a road out to there,a $zillion for dredging and the same for breakwaters,+ ongoing maintenance.
For what?
Community's fears as shale oil production begins
ReplyDeleteAfter nearly 50 years of attempts, Australia's first commercial oil shale plant is gearing up to move into commercial production in Queensland.
The Queensland Government lifted a 20-year moratorium in February, allowing a new trial plant at the old Targinie site, 20 kilometres north-west of Gladstone, to become operational.
Queensland has 90 per cent of Australia's known shale reserves - a natural resource potentially worth billions of dollars.
Targinie is a community-cum-ghost town left devastated by an earlier trial of shale oil production.
Most of its houses have been demolished, the local shop is gone, and the 400 or so residents have left.
Former residents are still dealing with ongoing health issues they believe are related to emissions and odours from the old plant.
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However, the new plant uses improved technologies and there are yet to be any complaints about emissions.
But Mal Watkins, the last man standing in Targinie, is not convinced.
"There were houses everywhere. It was a primary producing community with your small crops," he said.
"You had mangoes as one of the main fruits, custard apples, squash, zucchinis, everything.
"Through here now there's no one producing here."
He refused to leave after the Queensland Government forced the community to sell to create what they called an industrial buffer zone.
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The problem was the Stuart Oil shale plant over which released chemical fumes and foul odours that blanketed residents nearby.
The oil shale plant was eventually shut down in 2004, after the company Southern Pacific Petroleum ran out of money and collapsed.
The technology was considered unreliable, energy hungry and the environmental problems plagued its existence.
Almost a decade on, Mr Watkins says its left a legacy of ill health.
"I know of at least half a dozen people who've up and died from cancer for no reason at all," he said.
"We lost a very very good friend up here at the end of the street. It brings a lump to my throat to talk about her.
"It was terrible. The odours were that bad you could get it in your throat, in the back of your throat, in your nose.
"As the crow flies, the plant would be about 5-6 kilometres [away] at the most.
"The breeze swung around one day and hit Yarwun which would be about 15-20 kilometres away and they had to send the school kids home. It was that bad at Yarwun."
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More than 1,000 complaints were made about the plant.
While Queensland health acknowledged it was a "public health nuisance" and the "emissions did impact on air quality", it never declared it a health risk.
"Nothing was resolved," Mr Watkins said.
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Large-scale production
So far the plant is producing 40 barrels a day, but it could yield up to 1 billion barrels over the next few decades to fuel aviation and land transport.
"What we really see is there is a need for transport fuels in Australia and our shale resource and our technology is very well suited to producing very high quality transport fuels," Mr Andersen said.
The local and state government have embraced the industry's return.
Queensland Mining and Resources Minister Andrew Cripps says the State Government is "comfortable" with QER's technology.
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There have been no complaints of emissions at the trial stage.
But even so, it will take a lot more to convince those who are still living with the problems of the past.
"We were told originally we wouldn't hear them, we wouldn't smell them, we wouldn't even know they were there," Mr Watkins said.
"Spin doctors and this mob are the same. Exactly the same."
..
Well despite all the warnings that the world would come to an end if the JPP gas hub did not proceed -the opposite has occurred.
ReplyDeleteYes the Green groups have been celebrating overtime and continue to do so,shareholders and brokers and stockmarket analysts have all applauded Woodsides action and are calling for more."A sober and reasonable corporate decision AT LAST!"
I have scoured the oil and gas industry papers and have not found one article against the scrapping of the hub.Indeed no one has said - gas shortage or "the end of the world".
In fact it has been hailed as the "Dawn of a New Era".So hip hip hooray!
EXCEPT for one solitary person - Colin Barnett.
No surprises there.
Well Colin the world hasn't stopped it has moved on without you.
So just to show this I will post what is likely to be,(apart from fracking news),the last "Unintelligent Report" for some time.
...............
I will kick this off with a promisingly intelligent announcement :
Geodynamics produces power from Habanero
Renewable energy
In a major milestone for Geodynamics, its 1MW Habanero pilot plant has started producing electricity utilising the heat resource from the Innaminka Deeps Project.
This project development is highly significant because it is the first of its kind in Australia (and one of a small handful globally) to produce power employing a technique known as an Enhanced or Engineered Geothermal System (EGS).
... the hottest rocks lie very deep underground and are not permeable, so it is not possible to circulate water through these rocks to extract the heat and bring it to the surface to drive a turbine. EGS involves cracking this rock to enable water to flow through it to create an artificial reservoir.
The trial and testing program for the 1MW pilot plant is scheduled to complete in August this year. This is expected to provide important information to improve Geodynamics understanding of both the geothermal reservoir and the wider Cooper Basin resource.
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Exxon up to their same old tricks.
Exxon Pegasus Pipeline Leaks Again
A month after the 70 year old Pegasus Pipeline cracked and spilled thousands of barrels of tar sand crude into the small town of Mayflower, Arkansas, it has leaked again.
The leak happened about 200 miles north of Mayflower. Exxon claims it only leaked about a barrel, and is near completing its clean-up.
Mayflower locals are skeptical of Exxon’s claims that the clean-up in their community is nearing completion. The difference between their videos depicting a meticulous restoration process, and reality, are quite startling.
Workers were shown cleaning up animals with toothbrushes, removing the crude from their feathers.
“The Unified Command cleanup operations continue to transition from emergency response to the longer-term work of remediation and restoration,” reads a press release.. The worst is behind us.. Now watch us release these ten ducks back into the lake.” And those that died.. “the majority of the impacted wildlife have been reptiles, mostly venomous snakes.”
What we just read is such a great spin that it could have been delivered by one of our Congressmen or Senators.
And don’t worry about Lake Conway either. The oil was stopped before reaching the “main body” of the lake, one of the most popular fishing and recreation spots in the region.
Except, back in the real world, oil had reached a cove in the lake. “I don’t understand where this distinction is coming from. …The cove is part of Lake Conway,” Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel told reporters.
Meanwhile, water tests of Lake Conway are showing a different result.
“Yes, there’s oil in Lake Conway and there’s oil downstream flowing into the Arkansas River,” said Scott Smith, president and CEO of Opflex Solutions, a water quality testing and oil cleanup company.
Exxon also claims the air is safe, but chemicals ranging from benzene, a carcinogen, to toluene, a central nervous system depressant, more than four weeks after the spill were found when tested.
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Canada: Alaska watches as Canada considers shipping tar sands oil across Arctic Ocean
ReplyDelete01 May 2013
Is Alaska nearing the day when large oil tankers will sail by its Arctic shoreline, carrying Canadian tar sands oil to foreign markets? The provincial government of Alberta is toying with the idea, sinking money into a study to find out if an Arctic shipping plan makes more sense than moving its oil through the proposed Keystone XL pipeline to the Lower 48, or pipelines west or east through Canada.
Contemplating such Arctic voyages harkens back to the oil boom of Alaska's North Slope. Shortly after wildcatters struck it big at Prudhoe Bay, Humble Oil, the predecessor to Exxon Corp, tested an Arctic shipping route in 1969. Dubbed the Manhattan project, as the vessel was named the Manhattan, the mission was in part to see whether transporting crude in tanker vessels from Alaska's Arctic oil fields was feasible, rather than building the 800-mile trans-Alaska pipeline to ship the oil to the ice-free port of Valdez.
The test run proved it wasn't possible to do so year-round, but 44 years later climate change is transforming the Far North, with new shipping lanes opening up and Arctic dreamers betting on a boom.
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Indonesia: NuEnergy Gas commences hydraulic fracturing at Muara Enim PSC in Indonesia
01 May 2013
ASX-listed Indonesian and African focused energy company NuEnergy Gas has commenced hydraulic fracturing using radial jetting techniques at its Muara Enim Production Sharing Contract (PSC) pilot production site located in Sumatra, Indonesia.
The program commenced on 29 April and will hydraulically fracture five new untested coal seams covering 29 metres of coal thickness. The total lateral penetration exceeds 480 metres and the program is expected to enhance production rates at the pilot project. The program is aimed at improving the production potential of the Suban Coal Seams..
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Tanzania: BG's Tanzania gas plans move ahead
01 May 2013
BG Group said it will present the Tanzanian government with proposed locations for a huge liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the next few months, as the project moves ahead after another successful drilling test. Gas finds off Tanzania and Mozambique have led to predictions that East Africa could become a big exporter of LNG, but first large facilities need to be built to enable the development of the gas.
BG's chief executive Chris Finlayson indicated on Wednesday that the process to draw up plans for a potential onshore LNG terminal and anticipate providing proposed locations to the Tanzania government in the next few months,' Finlayson said in a statement.
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Iraq launches a major step in energy supply and the world’s largest flare reduction project
01 May 2013
Gas Company, Shell and Mitsubishi on Wednesday officially announced the commencement of operations of Basrah Gas Company, which will be the largest gas project in Iraq’s history and the world’s largest flares reduction project.
Iraq has estimated natural gas reserves totaling 112.6 trillion cubic feet, the 10th largest in the world. However, due to decades of wars and sanctions that led to the deterioration of the gas infrastructure, preliminary estimates indicate that Iraq’s losses from gas flaring could amount to billions of dollars annually*.
Mr. Ali Khudair, South Gas Company Director General said: 'Basrah produces only around 1 billion cubic feet a day of associated gas and some 700 million cubic feet are being flared, which is wasting millions of dollars of the country’s resources every day. Partnering with world class companies like Shell and Mitsubishi will help Iraq fulfil its goal of developing its gas infrastructure to eliminate flaring
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Chevron at it again.
ReplyDeleteChevron Offered Suitcase Full of Cash to Former Ecuador Judge Guerra In Exchange for Testimony
NEW YORK, May 01 /CSRwire/ - An American lawyer working for Chevron brought a suitcase full of cash to a meeting with a former Ecuador judge to coax favorable testimony to help the oil giant evade its $19 billion Ecuador judgment, a recent court filing reveals.
The lawyer, Andres Rivero, brought $20,000 in “money that's in the suitcase” to pay disgraced former Ecuador Judge Alberto Guerra – close to his annual salary before he was removed as a judge – for testimony against the Plaintiffs, as revealed in recordings made by one of Chevron’s covert operatives in Ecuador and attached to a recent motion filed in the U.S. District Court in New York. When asked by Chevron’s henchmen if $20,000 was enough, Guerra replied in the transcript “Couldn’t we add a couple of zeroes to that?” The meeting occurred on July 13, 2012, in Quito.
Lawyers for the Ecuadorians called the payment a "bribe pure and simple" and said Chevron should be investigated for witness tampering and obstruction of justice.
“We’ve always known that Chevron can only bully and bribe its way to favorable testimony but now we have even more undisputed evidence of this malfeasance,” added Pablo Fajardo, lead counsel for the plaintiffs in Ecuador. “Ethical corporations don’t send their people to meetings carrying suitcases stuffed with cash.”
The Chevron transcript also corroborates a declaration released earlier this month from Judge Nicolas Zambrano, the author of the $19 billion judgment against Chevron, who declared under oath that Chevron had used Guerra to offer him a $1 million bribe to testify against the indigenous plaintiffs. Chevron operatives told Guerra that “you get yours when a deal is reached with Zambrano” and admit the company has already offered to fly Zambrano to Chicago or Bogota to meet with one of the company's Vice-Presidents or “a very high ranking person from Chevron.”
Chevron has claimed the payments to Guerra were for “expenses” and “protection” but Guerra admits that his ordinary expenses are less than $500 per month, far less than the $10,000 per month and over $326,000 in payments Chevron later agreed to pay for his testimony.
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Russia Ready to Boost Energy Supplies to Japan – Putin
MOSCOW, April 29 (RIA Novosti) – Russia is ready to invest in huge new infrastructure projects in order to help meet Japan’s growing requirements for hydrocarbon resources, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday after a meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Moscow.
“Russia’s hydrocarbon reserves are so [enormous] that they are also capable of meeting Japan’s growing requirements without detriment to our traditional partners,” Putin told Abe, during the first visit by a Japanese premier to Russia in the last 10 years.
“This could be joint hydrocarbon production and joint construction of a liquefied natural gas plant," Putin said. "Gazprom is ready to invest its resources in new capacity for gas reception on the territory of Japan, invest in gas pipeline systems and we are ready to consider building additional electric power capacity in Russia for subsequent supply to Japan.”
..
India ups stake as African resource scramble heats up
ReplyDelete--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 2 May 2013
AFRICA has never been at the centre of such attention since the European powers divided the continent in the 19th century. However, recent oil and gas discoveries there promise a renewed scramble – this time from Asian state-owned oilies, with two of India’s state-owned companies poised to make Asia’s single largest investment in Africa.
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Lights dimming on Korean LNG demand as new Asian buyers emerge
Tuesday, 30 April 2013
The lights are dimming on future South Korea LNG demand. As new Asian LNG buyers emerge the Koreans believe they have reached their ceiling. The Koreans have always operated uniquely as purchasers, importing 2.5 million tonnes from Yemen LNG (right) last year, but just 780,000 tonnes from Australia.
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SOME TOTALLY MAJOR BULLSH*T FROM BP...IT'S A WHOPPER!
*******
BP Confirms Mexican Lawsuit over Deepwater Horizon
BP confirmed Wednesday that it is being sued by the Mexican government in relation to the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The firm's first quarter results Tuesday revealed that, since March 6, it is among a number of companies named as defendants in more than 2,200 additional civil lawsuits related to the incident.
Plaintiffs include a "foreign government", which press reports speculated was Mexico. In a phone call with Rigzone Tuesday, a BP press officer confirmed that the foreign government is indeed Mexico, which had said back in 2010 that it would look at some sort of action against the company in relation to the Deepwater Horizon spill.
BP is currently evaluating the lawsuits, of which it said the vast majority consist of claims under the US Oil Pollution Act 1990 (OPA 90). BP said it believes that claimants in these new lawsuits may have sought to file them in advance of the third anniversary of the incident on April 20 2013 in order to avoid time bar challenges under OPA 90's three-year statute of limitations.
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Meanwhile, BP reported late Tuesday that it has reached agreement with Federal and Natural Resources Damages trustees on two additional proposed early restoration projects in Louisiana that are expected to cost approximately $340 million.
The projects are part of a commitment from BP to provide up to $1 billion in early restoration funding to speed up recovery of natural resources that were damaged as a result of the Deepwater Horizon incident.
"We are extremely pleased to have reached agreement with the trustees on the new projects, which will provide significant long-term benefits to the environment and the people of Louisiana," said Laura Folse, BP's executive vice president for Response and Environmental Restoration.
******* (( THE WHOPPER!!! ))
"With the help of the extensive cleanup efforts, early restoration projects, and natural recovery processes, the Gulf is returning to its baseline condition, which is the condition it would be in if the accident had not occurred."
*******
A STAGGERING AMOUNT OF BS!
No wonder Woodside scrapped JPP - this looks scary - the beginning of the flood.
DeleteMay 3 (LNG) - Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass Liquefaction project in Louisiana has formally filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission its notice to commence installation of all equipment for Phase 1 of its US LNG export venture, including Train 1, Train 2, and additional infrastructure and storage.
....
Cheniere US LNG export plant ahead of schedule and secord project progresses
Friday, 03 May 2013
Cheniere Energy said its first phase of the Sabine Pass Liquefaction project was more than 26 percent complete and ahead of the contracted schedule for building the first two of six Trains that will be the first of the new wave of US export plants to come on stream in 2015.
...
Excelerate is on track to deploy first US FLNG export plant in Lavaca Bay project
Friday, 03 May 2013
Excelerate Energy said it was on track to deploy the first Floating LNG export plant in the US after completing front-end engineering and design for a project on the Gulf Coast.
...
US Cameron LNG export project advances in securing more power for processing
Wednesday, 01 May 2013
Entergy Gulf States signed an agreement with Sempra Energy to advance its proposed US LNG export project in Hackberry in the state of Louisiana by supplying more power for the liquefaction process.
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Texas adds 100,000 jobs and expects even more from LNG and shale and oil boom
Thursday, 02 May 2013
The natural gas, shale-gas and oil boom in Texas and exploration activities to prepare the way for LNG exports preparation has led to a record number 271,000 people working in the industry, about 100,000 more than four years ago.
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GE acquires US company and buys into China venture for small-scale LNG assets
Friday, 03 May 2013
GE Oil & Gas said it bought a small Texas-based company and took a stake in a Chinese venture to acquire engineering and design expertise in the rapidly growing small-scale LNG liquefaction sector.
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Shell CEO Peter Voser to retire
Royal Dutch Shell plc says chief executive Peter Voser will step down in early 2014, and the company reported lower first-quarter profits in the wake of a decline in oil prices.
The departure comes as a surprise, as Voser is just 54 years old and is well-regarded within the industry. Shell broke with a longstanding tradition of alternating British and Dutch chief executives with the July 2009 appointment of Voser, a Swiss national.
"I feel it is time for a change in my lifestyle and I am looking forward to have more time available for my family and private life," Voser said in a note to staff. Voser has been at Shell for 25 years, including five years as CFO and four as CEO.
He added that he plans to serve in non-executive business positions outside Shell.
Since taking Shell's top job, Voser has invested heavily in production, much of which is just starting to come online. In particular he has focused on expanding the company's presence in liquefied natural gas, or LNG, which can be transported without pipelines.
..
A staggering amount of Bullsh*t from BP!
ReplyDeleteCheckout the last paragraph - unbelievable!
BP Confirms Mexican Lawsuit over Deepwater Horizon
BP confirmed Wednesday that it is being sued by the Mexican government in relation to the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The firm's first quarter results Tuesday revealed that, since March 6, it is among a number of companies named as defendants in more than 2,200 additional civil lawsuits related to the incident.
Plaintiffs include a "foreign government", which press reports speculated was Mexico. In a phone call with Rigzone Tuesday, a BP press officer confirmed that the foreign government is indeed Mexico, which had said back in 2010 that it would look at some sort of action against the company in relation to the Deepwater Horizon spill.
BP is currently evaluating the lawsuits, of which it said the vast majority consist of claims under the US Oil Pollution Act 1990 (OPA 90). BP said it believes that claimants in these new lawsuits may have sought to file them in advance of the third anniversary of the incident on April 20 2013 in order to avoid time bar challenges under OPA 90's three-year statute of limitations.
Meanwhile, BP reported late Tuesday that it has reached agreement with Federal and Natural Resources Damages trustees on two additional proposed early restoration projects in Louisiana that are expected to cost approximately $340 million.
The projects are part of a commitment from BP to provide up to $1 billion in early restoration funding to speed up recovery of natural resources that were damaged as a result of the Deepwater Horizon incident.
"We are extremely pleased to have reached agreement with the trustees on the new projects, which will provide significant long-term benefits to the environment and the people of Louisiana," said Laura Folse, BP's executive vice president for Response and Environmental Restoration.
******************** (THE WHOPPER!)***********
"With the help of the extensive cleanup efforts, early restoration projects, and natural recovery processes, the Gulf is returning to its baseline condition, which is the condition it would be in if the accident had not occurred."
*********************************************
India ups stake as African resource scramble heats up
Thursday, 2 May 2013
AFRICA has never been at the centre of such attention since the European powers divided the continent in the 19th century. However, recent oil and gas discoveries there promise a renewed scramble – this time from Asian state-owned oilies, with two of India’s state-owned companies poised to make Asia’s single largest investment in Africa.
..
BlogSpot playing up again..
DeleteLow prices, high costs threaten thousands of coal jobs
DeleteTHOUSANDS more jobs could be cut from the NSW coal industry by year-end as miners struggle to turn a profit on reduced prices and higher costs, an issue they argue is being compounded by rising uncertainty in the government approvals process.
The major coalminers in the state, including Rio Tinto and Xstrata, have already cut hundreds of employees from operations and global giant Rio warned this week that hundreds more could go following a court decision to block an expansion at one of its NSW operations.
With more than 36 per cent of Australian thermal coalmines operating at a loss and about 45 per cent of the country's coking coal industry making a loss, the sector argues government processes will drive investment offshore.
Rio Tinto held "crisis talks" with the O'Farrell government this week as the industry chorus against the state's approvals process for mining projects became louder.
More than 9000 people have already lost their jobs in the Queensland and NSW coal industry in the past nine months and further cuts are tipped in the coming months. "When margins are being squeezed, you don't have much choice; you have to start shedding labour," one miner said.
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The US shale gas revolution and historically low US gas prices have led to lower domestic coal demand, leading to an increase in US coal exports and Indonesia becoming the global leader in thermal coal exports.
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Community and environmental concerns over mining projects have increased over the years and while the industry agrees it needs to meet most of the demands, it says there needs to be an appropriate balance between the economy and jobs and responsibly managing environmental issues.
Coalminers also say they have been unfairly grouped with coal-seam gas activities.
...
Some news for fracking fans.
ReplyDelete......
Schramm Unveils New 'Walking, Talking' Telemast Rig
Walking and talking are two verbs typically not associated with a drilling rig. However, the latest version of Schramm Inc.'s Telemast drilling rig can do both, a company official told Rigzone.
The Westchester, Pennsylvania-based company recently shipped one of its new T500XD Telemast drilling rigs to a customer for use in the Utica and Marcellus plays.
The latest rig in Schramm's Telemast drilling rig line, the T500XD, has a number of interesting characteristics, said Fred Slack, vice president of business development at Schramm, in an interview with Rigzone. Unlike traditional rigs which are on rails that only allow movement from left to right or front to back, the T500XD has a walking subbase which lifts the entire rig six inches allowing the rig to turn.
The rig can walk at a pace of 30 feet per hour and move a full 360 degrees, rather than moving forward and back or side to side, and can move quickly from hole to hole without the traditional two-axis pad mounted design limit. The T500XD also "talks" in that it allows drilling data to be transmitted via the Internet or satellite communications systems to remote operations centers in multiple locations, Slack noted.
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The rig, which is in the 500,000-pound hook load class, can drill horizontally or directionally to 15,000 feet or more, and can control weight on bit without utilizing traditional drill collars and gross string weight alone. This method is not a particularly accurate science, Slack noted.
The T500XD also offers best in class 35,000 feet-pounds of top head torque, third party directional steering interface and 80,000 pounds of hydraulic pulldown capacity, third party directional steering interface and 80,000 pounds of hydraulic pulldown capacity, meaning the rig can be used in a number of shale play opportunities globally.
***
The T500XD also features the LoadSafe XD automated pipe handling system can handle 24-inch diameter Range III tubulars weighing up to 10,000 pounds. In this system, drill pipe also is racked in the horizontal position for easy loading and offloading, dramatically improving operator safety.
"Traditionally you've had roughnecks working with their bare hands. With safety an important consideration, the joystick controls now allow workers to operate the rig without touching moving parts," Slack said.
***
The rig can be set up without a crane within a short period of time, and the rig, walking subbase, power unit and pipehandling system can be transported in only eight truckloads, said Slack. This compares with competitor rigs that advertise 12 truckloads.
Five to six crew members would typically be needed for a rig of this size, but the T500XD only requires three crew members, two in the control room operating joysticks and a helper, Slack noted. As a result, Schramm's rigs have a smaller footprint, and are less disruptive to the environment, Slack said.
Launched in 2002, the Telemast rig line features a telescoping mast instead of a traditional erector-set type gantry seen in traditional drilling rigs. The telescoping mast uses hydraulics to retract a rig into a truck transportable position in one piece, Slack said. The initial Telemast rig, the T130XD, was utilized in coalbed methane drilling; it then grew into the TXD rig, which has been used for tophole work in the Marcellus and Utica plays as well as the Permian Basin in Texas, Slack commented.
One approach operators have been using is to use a TXD rig to go in quickly and drill a tophole, the use a larger rig to drill the lateral. The latest Telemast rig now allows for both operations to be carried out with one large Schramm rig, Slack said.
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Greenies trying to ruin frack party on Great Barrier Reef - Greenies actions could cost jobs!
ReplyDelete...
BG: Anti-Development Activism Threatens Thousands of Jobs (Australia)
BG Group Australia Chairman Catherine Tanna said Wednesday that anti-development activism threatened thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of investment in Australia by the natural gas industry.
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Ms Tanna said many of the criticisms of the industry were highly questionable and propagated without challenge to the point where activism was determining public policy.
Speaking in Brisbane to the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia, Ms Tanna said a prime example was the proposed amendments to the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, introduced in haste to Parliament in March this year.
The proposals aim to broaden the Act to make water resources a matter of national environmental significance and to make just two industries – coal and natural gas – subject to the new law when they have a relatively small impact on Australia’s water. Coal and natural gas currently use less than 4% of Australia’s water whereas agriculture uses more than 50%.
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Ms Tanna said the proposals were not introduced to deal with an environmental problem but to appease activists.
“We believe the proposals are fundamentally flawed because they deal with a fabricated perception and not with reality, and will effectively shift the regulatory goal posts for projects already approved by a regulatory regime that already works,” Ms Tanna said.
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She said about 9000 jobs had been created in Australia by QGC’s Queensland Curtis LNG Project alone and two other natural gas projects in Queensland have similar numbers.
“When fully operational, our business will contribute more than A$1 billion a year to state and federal government revenues,” Ms Tanna said.
“That’s equivalent yearly funding for more than 20 primary schools or about 1000 hospital beds.
“That is a measure of what is at stake when we have decision making on this basis; when green activists and their supporters deliberately misinform; and when motives and charges go unquestioned and unchallenged.”
QGC has asked that the Bill be withdrawn.
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SHAME AND SCANDAL STRIKE WOODSIDE AGAIN!
ReplyDeleteE Timor challenges gas treaty with Australia
East Timor is seeking to tear up a treaty with Australia on oil and gas revenues in the Timor Sea, arguing Australia spied on it during negotiations in 2004.
The Australian Government says neither East Timor's claims about the treaty nor its allegations of espionage are new and the treaty remains in force.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says East Timor is seeking to have the treaty declared invalid.
He told PM that East Timor recently notified the Australian Government that it was launching a process of arbitration.
"Timor Leste notified Australia on April 23 that it has initiated arbitration under the 2002 Timor Sea treaty of a dispute that relates to the 2006 treaty on certain maritime arrangements in the Timor Sea," he said.
The treaty is used to split revenue from the lucrative Greater Sunrise gas field in the Timor Sea.
East Timor has been in a long-running dispute with Australia and the Australian-based company Woodside about how the Greater Sunrise field will be developed.
Mr Dreyfus says East Timor alleges the CMATS treaty is invalid because the negotiations were not fair.
"[East Timor alleges] in the course of negotiating this treaty back in 2004, Australian officials were aware of confidential information belonging to Timorese negotiating team," he said.
"We can't comment further on the matter because these issues are going to be dealt with in the course of the arbitration.
"Australia has always conducted itself in a professional manner in diplomatic negotiations and has conducted those CMATS treaty negotiations in good faith."
Professor of international law at the Australian National University, Donald Rothwell, says East Timor's application for arbitration is a significant development.
"It's a significant development because Australia has always tried to settle and resolve its maritime boundaries by way of negotiation," he said.
"But clearly as far as East Timor is concerned a point has been reached where negotiation is not successful and that aspects of this dispute need to be subject to arbitration."
Professor Rothwell says under a bilateral agreement, a three-person tribunal appointed by Australia and East Timor will be established to consider the case.
"And that tribunal would be able to consider first of all whether it has jurisdiction to resolve this dispute and then if it says yes to that, it will then look at the merits of the claim," he said.
"It's made quite clear in the Timor Sea treaty any award handed down by that tribunal would be final and binding upon Australia and East Timor."
Professor Rothwell says it is possible the matter could be resolved within a year.
PM was not able to contact East Timor's government for a comment.
Well I guess the Woodside "private army" will be wishing they were back in good old laid back Broome some time soon.
ReplyDelete.....
Syria’s War Has Once-Quiet Border Area in Israel on Alert
MOUNT HAZEKA, Israel — Elite infantry and reconnaissance units have been moved into the long-quiet Golan Heights this spring. Bulldozers are making way for new military shelters.
... Already there have been clashes at the border, with errant munitions landing in the Golan some 30 times, at least five prompting Israel to fire back.
But the concern runs deeper along what was for decades one border Israel did not have to worry much about. Many increasingly see no possible positive outcome of their neighbor’s bloody conflict, no clear solution for securing their interests in the meanwhile...
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For Israel, as for other nations, the Syrian civil war presents pressing security challenges, including the prospect of chemical and other sophisticated weapons falling into the hands of rogue groups, and radical Islamists ultimately coming to power.
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And so, as Israel is building up its defense here, the nation is debating a longer-term approach, a prospect complicated and made more urgent by recent troubles along the border with Egypt, which had also been relatively quiet, until the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak two years ago.
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Administration Includes Military Strikes in Possible Syrian Options
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, as part of its examination of possible responses to obtaining conclusive proof that President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has used chemical weapons, is considering military options with allies that include attacking Syria’s antiaircraft systems, military aircraft and some of its missile fleet, according to senior officials from several countries.
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But by attacking Mr. Assad’s main delivery systems, the officials say, they would curtail his ability to transport those weapons any significant distance...
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By Israeli estimates, Syria has 15 to 20 major chemical weapons sites, many near airfields that would make transport by plane relatively easy. Military planners say they would want to avoid hitting the chemicals for fear of creating toxic sites that could injure or kill civilians.
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If Mr. Obama and his allies proceeded with an attack on air defenses, missiles and the Syrian Air Force, they would most likely use Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from ships in the eastern Mediterranean and fighter jets that might be able to launch missiles without entering Syrian airspace. But it is unclear how effective those would be.
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New 'bunker buster' has a message for Iran
THE Pentagon has redesigned its biggest "bunker buster" bomb with features intended to enable it to destroy Iran's most heavily fortified and defended nuclear site.
US officials see development of the weapon as critical to convincing Israel that the US has the ability to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb if diplomacy fails, and also that Israel's military can't do that on its own.
US officials have in recent weeks shown Israeli military and civilian leaders secret Air Force video of an earlier version of the bomb hitting its target in high-altitude testing, and explained the improvements, according to diplomats.
The video is understood to show the weapon penetrating the ground within inches of its target, followed by a large underground detonation.
The newest version of the Pentagon's largest conventional bomb, the 14,000kg massive ordnance penetrator or MOP, has adjusted fuses to maximise its burrowing power, upgraded guidance systems to improve its precision and hi-tech equipment intended to allow it to evade Iranian air defences in order to reach and destroy the Fordow nuclear enrichment complex, under a mountain near the city of Qom.
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From the US - Fracking still causing water worries.
ReplyDelete..
Spread of Hydrofracking Could Strain Water Resources in West, Study Finds
The rapid expansion of hydraulic fracturing to retrieve once-inaccessible reservoirs of oil and gas could put pressure on already-stressed water resources from the suburbs of Fort Worth to western Colorado, according to a new report from a nonprofit group that advises investors about companies’ environmental risks.
“Given projected sharp increases” in the production of oil and gas by the technique commonly known as fracking, the report from the group Ceres said, “and the intense nature of local water demands, competition and conflicts over water should be a growing concern for companies, policy makers and investors.”
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The overall amount of water used for fracking, even in states like Colorado and Texas that have been through severe droughts in recent years, is still small: in many cases 1 percent or even as little as a tenth of 1 percent of overall consumption, far less than agricultural or municipal uses.
But those figures mask more significant local effects, the report’s author, Monika Freyman, said in an interview. “You have to look at a county-by-county scale to capture the intense and short-term impact on water supplies,” she said.
“The whole drilling and fracking process is a well-orchestrated, moment-by-moment process” requiring that one million to five million gallons of water are available for a brief period, she added. “They need an intense amount of water for a few days, and that’s it.”
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One of the options that oil and gas drillers have is recycling the water that comes back out of wells, which is called “produced water.” But the water injected into wells is laced with a proprietary mixture of chemicals and sand, and the water returning from thousands of feet below the surface can also contain natural pollutants or even radioactivity. Recycled water must therefore be treated, which can be expensive.
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An earlier report done by engineers at the University of Texas, Austin, showed that 8,800 acre-feet — nearly 2.9 billion gallons — were used for fracking in 2011 in Tarrant County in North Texas, where Fort Worth is located and which has gone to the Supreme Court to get access to Oklahoma’s water.
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And in the Eagle Ford shale formation in South Texas, particularly in Webb County, some researchers estimate that the amount of water used for fracking represents as much as one-third of the area’s annual groundwater recharge, the amount of surface water that percolates back to the underground aquifer supplying the region.
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But the Ceres report notes that drillers in the Eagle Ford formation are also expanding their use of brackish, undrinkable water in place of fresh water.
While the local effects in Texas have been sufficient to spur the state’s Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry there, to encourage recycling by loosening rules governing that process, it is Colorado that faces the most widespread potential conflicts between fracking and other water uses, according to Ceres’s new report.
Kenneth H. Carlson, an engineering professor at Colorado State University, saw little difference between drillers buying needed water and cities buying water from farmers. “It’s a private commodity that people can do with what they want,” he said. “We’re not going to go thirsty. We’re just going to have to pay more.”
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Could prove interesting for the fracking and building 100's of dams fan club.
ReplyDelete..
Drought stalks the land again
WEARILY mustering cattle on his parched 120,000ha outback property in far western Queensland, Boulia cattleman Rick Britton admits he has no idea if there is any point to his efforts.
Cattle prices crashed this week across northern Australia, as desperate graziers rushed to destock their properties as grass runs out and the land dries up following the wet season that never was.
With no green feed left in Queensland, no pastures available to agist stock nearer the recently flooded east coast, little of the live export market to Indonesia left and meatworks overloaded, beef producers like Britton have no option but to send their cattle to the saleyards.
But stock with visible bony ribs sold for $20 a head on Wednesday at the Longreach cattle sale. It was the lowest meat price recorded, equivalent to just 10c a kilogram, since the 1974 beef crash.
Britton knows the 300 weaners he mustered to sell on Tuesday in Roma -- alongside 8000 others heading south -- will probably bring less than the $60 cost of freighting each from Boulia to the saleyards.
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The spectre of another big drought is now casting its shadow across northern and southern Australia, only three years after the millennium drought broke.
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A dry summer has left the region in drought and an estimated one million cattle from the Northern Territory and Queensland looking for a home or a meatworks.
One third of Queensland was declared in drought this week, the first such declarations since 2011.
In southern Australia, little sign of autumn and winter rain has left graziers putting sheep and cattle on the stock routes in the Riverina. The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast a drier than usual winter and spring.
About one sixth of NSW is considered in drought, while 65 per cent of the state is experiencing very dry conditions.
Grain growers from the West Australian wheatbelt to Victoria's Wimmera are praying for rain to bring their crops up and many have shelved plans to grow canola.
Victorian and southern NSW farmers are selling sheep in droves. About 40,000 head were auctioned at Wagga Wagga on Thursday. A further 28,000 head are for sale in Bendigo on Monday and 35,000 in Ballarat a day later.
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Veteran Deniliquin livestock agent, Elders' Jason Andrews, said it was impossible to sell sheep in far western NSW from Broken Hill to Cobar.
Cattle prices were also not much better than in western Queensland; in Deniliquin this week a mob of poor-quality cattle sold for just $48 head.
"It's very tough; I'd go so far as to say that in the past 12 months, since the last big rain in February 2012, that we've had less rain than during the big drought," Mr Andrews said.
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But in the north beef producers were in dire straits even before the unwanted low Longreach cattle prices of this week.
Land values have also slumped and northern and western Queensland stations -- like their excess cattle -- are virtually impossible to sell.
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Bankers are now starting to call in debts, especially in the north, triggering a new round of station sales and mortgagee auctions.
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AND today on the back of new video footage showing terrible animal cruelty at 2 Egyptian abattoirs the cattle industry has imposed a ban on any further live exports to Egypt.
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Racist NSW just sinks lower.
ReplyDelete..
Rough justice for victims too scared to testify against abusive partners
ABORIGINAL women who are victims of violent domestic clashes have been sentenced to jail in regional NSW after retreating from their claims against their abuser - a trend that has sparked calls for an urgent review of police handling of false accusation cases.
The Weekend Australian has uncovered 20 cases in which 19 indigenous women and one 17-year-old girl from towns stretching from Walgett to Wagga Wagga were prosecuted after retracting the substance of police statements made immediately following an alleged domestic incident.
Three of the women were sentenced to prison - one for a period of 18 months - by country magistrates. The sentences were later overturned by a higher court.
The cases fly in the face of a recently rolled-out domestic violence justice strategy for NSW, which aims to ensure "victims have confidence in the justice system and are empowered to participate".
One woman, 44-year-old Allyson Sullivan, from Gilgandra in the state's central west, has taken the extraordinary step of speaking out publicly about her conviction on a false-accusation charge and the way it destroyed her faith in the justice system.
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Ms Sullivan endured 20 years of violent assaults at the hands of her defacto partner, who at the height of the abuse threatened to cut off her fingers, and had locked her and her children in a car and then set it alight.
The mother of three was given an 18-month jail sentence - the second harshest for a false-accusation charge in recent NSW judicial statistics - after retracting her allegations of abuse against her partner.
"I feel that I was failed," Ms Sullivan said. "I don't have any faith in the police whatsoever anymore."
Two other women were given five-month jail terms after being convicted of public mischief charges, also sentences that were among the harshest recently recorded. Those sentences were also overturned.
The 20 cases have come to light after the Aboriginal Legal Service NSW/ACT - alarmed after recently defending a woman who was sentenced to prison for retracting her evidence against a violent partner in court - undertook a review this month of its Western Zone case files.
The cases were prosecuted between 2006 and last year across the Castlereagh, Chifley, Darling River, Orana, Griffith and Wagga Wagga NSW local police commands.
Fifteen of the women were charged with public mischief offences under section 547B of the Crimes Act NSW. Four of the women and the 17-year-old girl were charged with making a false accusation to police under section 314 of the Crimes Act.
Fifteen of the women pleaded guilty and one had the charge dismissed under mental health diversion legislation. Of the four who pleaded not guilty, three were acquitted and one was fined.
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NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith and Director of Public Prosecutions Lloyd Babb declined to comment.
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Academic Robyn Holder said community pressure and tight social bonds made it particularly difficult for Aboriginal women to proceed with domestic violence prosecutions.
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Following is an extract from Barnett's Canning Basin Agreement Bill introduced to WA Parliament this week.
ReplyDeleteThe domgas project: In summary, the domgas project will involve the production of domgas in a treatment plant from natural gas obtained from within the title areas, and other areas with the consent of the state agreement minister, and the construction and operation of a pipeline commencing from a treatment plant within the title
areas and extending to and connecting to the domestic gas pipeline network near Port Hedland or near Dampier—unless the state otherwise approves another location in the north west of Western Australia, in which case near that other location—for the conveyance of domgas into the domestic gas pipeline network.
http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Hansard/hansard.nsf/0/364ce7a765d13fff48257b6500469ed8/$FILE/A38%20S1%2020130508%20p4b-7a.pdf
more ...
ReplyDeleteThe liquefied natural gas project will in summary involve the construction and operation of a pipeline commencing from within the title areas and extending to and connecting to an LNG production facility within an LNG precinct, or to a third party pipeline to the LNG production facility. It would transport natural gas obtained
from within the title areas and other areas, with the consent of the state agreement minister, to the LNG production facility, or to the above third party pipeline, for the production of LNG for export. The LNG pipeline must be a separate pipeline to the domgas pipeline. The relevant LNG precinct, within which the LNG production facility may be located, will be agreed between the joint venturers and the state agreement minister as
part of the clause 20 process for them to agree a corridor within which the joint venturers may construct their LNG pipeline.
The cat is well and truly out of the bag...
What Buru has found in the Canning they have likened to the Bakken Shale in the US, geologically and in the extraction methods to be used. Here is an example of what we can expect for the Kimberley. Not a pretty picture.
ReplyDeletehttp://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/bakken-shale-oil/dobb-text
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2013/03/29/refineries-in-the-works-in-the-bakken-shale/
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