Production and development review 2007

2008 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 423
Author(s):  
Jim Willetts
Keyword(s):  
Coal Seam ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil Production ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Project Delivery ◽  
Coal Seam Gas ◽  
Supply Source ◽  
Production Growth ◽  
Near Term ◽  
Skills Shortages

Australian petroleum production was close to record levels in 2007 with higher oil production and expansion of domestic gas, LNG and coal seam gas production. Growth in coal seam gas production has reached the point where it is not only providing a significant supply source for domestic gas and power station projects, but is proposed as the source of supply to no less than four potential LNG export plants in Queensland. Five new oil and gas developments came on stream during the year. Four final investment decisions were taken on major projects, the largest being the Pluto project in the Carnarvon Basin. The pipeline of committed and potential projects now includes about 25 significant petroleum projects with a combined value of over $100 billion. Together these have the potential to significantly increase Australian production in the next five to ten years, primarily through growing gas production. In the near term significant new oil projects carry the prospect of higher oil production in 2008. Cost estimates for new projects continued to escalate sharply and skills shortages in all parts of the project delivery chain threaten the ability to deliver all of the projects as contemplated.

PESA production and development review 2009

2010 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 121
Author(s):  
Geoff Humphreys
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Investment Decision ◽  
Oil Production ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Hydrocarbon Production ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Near Term ◽  
Total Capacity ◽  
Skills Shortages

Australian hydrocarbon production reached record levels in 2009 due to strong growth in production of LNG from the North West Shelf Venture. Domestic gas production also reached record levels. Coal seam gas production continued to grow, with the continuing development of existing fields and the development of the Kenya and Talinga projects in Queensland. Two new conventional gas projects also came into production: Blacktip in the Timor Sea and Longtom in the Gippsland Basin. However oil production was below that in the previous year, reflecting natural field decline and the absence of large scale projects reaching production. The project sanction highlight of the year was the final investment decision on the $43 billion Gorgon LNG project. This project will comprise three LNG trains with total capacity of 15 million tonnes per annum plus a domestic gas plant. The first gas from this project is planned for 2014. Eight other potential LNG projects are in various stages of front end engineering and design, most targeting final investment decisions in 2010 or 2011. The pipeline of committed and potential LNG projects has a combined value estimated to be well over $100 billion. These projects have the potential to significantly increase Australian LNG production over the next five to ten years. In the near term the start-up of the Van Gogh, Pyrenees and Turrum oil projects are expected to provide some respite from the decline in Australian oil production. Cost estimates for new projects are again escalating and skills shortages in all parts of the project delivery chain threaten the ability to deliver all of the projects under consideration.

Beneficial use of associated water in the Queensland coal seam gas industry

2010 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 686
Author(s):  
Cristian Purtill
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Coal Seam ◽  
Single Mode ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Coal Seam Gas ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Beneficial Use ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Water Management Strategy

The Queensland Government has developed an associated water management policy that, among other things, strives to maximise the beneficial use of associated water derived from Queensland’s burgeoning coal seam gas industry. The Department of Infrastructure and Planning reports that domestic gas production alone (i.e. without an export LNG market) will produce on average 25 GL per annum in the next 25 years. Most of this water has sufficiently high total dissolved solids and other water quality issues to require some form of treatment prior to use. Clearly, the relatively large volumes of water present both challenges and opportunities to the communities in which the CSG industry is developing. In line with the philosophy of beneficial use of associated water, Santos has developed a portfolio of options within its associated water management strategy and plans for its Arcadia Valley, Fairview and Roma tenements. The strategy seeks to: provide enduring value for the community; maximise benefits while minimising the environmental footprint; provide a range of alternatives to avoid single-mode failure; use scalable options in response to uncertainty; deploy demonstrated technologies; and, meet and exceed all regulatory requirements. This paper will set some context around the broader CSG industry’s associated water challenges, and identify what parameters must be considered in arriving at beneficial uses for the water. The paper then explores some of Santos’ approaches to associated water management.

PESA industry review—2009 environmental update

2010 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 143
Author(s):  
Sue Slater
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Coal Seam ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Final Report ◽  
Coal Seam Gas ◽  
Geological Sequestration ◽  
The Government

This paper provides a brief update on some of the key environmental issues that arose during 2009. In Queensland, activity is dominated by coal seam gas projects and specifically coal seam gas (CSG) to liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects. Environmental milestones for these projects are discussed, and the State Government’s response policy and regulation development response is reviewed. The progress of the more conventional LNG projects in Western Australia and the Northern Territory is also discussed. The final report on the mandated ten year review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 was released in December 2009. Seventy-one recommendations were made, and some key recommendations related to our industry are discussed here. Climate change has again dominated the media, with the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Copenhagen in December 2009. In Queensland, the Government released a paper that presented a range of strategies and policies, building on a number of existing schemes and introducing new measures. Gas is identified as a key transitional fuel while low emission coal technology and emerging renewable energy sources are being developed. Greenhouse gas legislation is continuing to be developed across several states, but subordinate legislation is yet to be finalised. In Victoria, submissions on the Greenhouse Gas Geological Sequestration Regulations closed in October 2009, and the Greenhouse Gas Geological Sequestration Act 2008 came into effect on 1 December 2009. In March 2009, ten offshore acreage releases were made under the Commonwealth legislation; however, the closing date for submissions is dependent upon the development of the regulations. South Australia passed an Act amending the Petroleum and Geothermal Act 2000 on 1 October 2009 to allow geosequestration. A number of reviews of the regulatory framework or the administrative systems associated with the upstream oil and gas sector have been completed in the last decade. All these reviews make similar findings and recommendations, and most recently the Jones Report, tabled in Western Australian Parliament on 12 August 2009, found that most key recommendations from previous reports and reviews had not been addressed or properly implemented. There seems to be little point in undertaking regulatory and system reviews that consistently make similar findings, if these findings are never addressed. The hurdles to implementation of key recommendations need to be identified, so that progress can be made in improving the approvals processes for the industry, and improving the environmental outcomes.

Field trials of the use of hydrated bentonite for decommissioning oil and gas wells

2016 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 561 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Towler ◽  
Mahshid Firouzi ◽  
Amin Mortezapour ◽  
Paul Hywel-Evans
Keyword(s):  
Coal Seam ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Laboratory Data ◽  
Field Trials ◽  
Gas Wells ◽  
Coal Seam Gas ◽  
Water Wells ◽  
The Us ◽  
Oil And Gas Wells ◽  
The Many

Bentonite is widely used for plugging shallow water wells in the US. In the past 15 years Chevron has been plugging oil and gas wells with bentonite in the San Joaquin Basin in California, and has successfully plugged about 10,000 wells. In several previous publications the authors’ research team has reported laboratory data to predict pressure containment using bentonite to underpin the fundamentals for plugging both oil and gas wells. The authors propose bentonite as an alternative medium for decommissioning coal seam gas wells in Queensland. Gas producing companies in Queensland are proposing to drill and produce about 40,000 coal seam gas wells in the state, and all of these will have to be plugged eventually. Water wells are shallow and are usually plugged with coarse granulated bentonite that is simply poured down the hole and hydrated. The authors propose a process for compressing bentonite into cylinders of various shapes, which promises to improve the use of bentonite for plugging deeper wells. Oil and gas wells are presently plugged and abandoned with cement. Bentonite has a number of advantages when plugging oil and gas wells. It is cheaper and easier to deploy and it is more reliable than cement. In this extended abstract the application of bentonite for plugging conventional oil and gas and coal seam gas wells will be discussed. The many field trials will be reviewed and the fundamental theory for plugging wells with bentonite will be outlined.

Determining the impacts of coal seam gas extraction on water-dependent assets

2016 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 545
Author(s):  
David Post ◽  
Peter Baker ◽  
Damian Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Coal Seam ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
Catchment Management ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Coal Seam Gas ◽  
Coal Resource

Many Australians, particularly in rural areas, are seeking clear scientific information about the potential impacts of coal seam gas production on groundwater and surface water across the country. In response to the resultant community concern, the Australian Government commissioned an ambitious multi-disciplinary program of bioregional assessments to improve understanding of the potential impacts of coal seam gas (and large coal mining) activities on water-dependent assets across six bioregions in eastern and central Australia. Delivered through a collaboration between the Department of the Environment, the Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO, and Geoscience Australia—and including close engagement with natural resource management and catchment management organisations, coal resource companies, Indigenous peoples and state governments—the results will allow coal resource companies, governments, and the community to focus on the areas where impacts may occur so that these can be minimised. Key findings of the program will be presented with specific reference to the potential impacts on water-dependent assets due to CSG development by Metgasco and AGL in the Clarence-Moreton and Gloucester regions, respectively.

Oil and gas project management and success: a critical evaluation of oil and gas project management success in Australia

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 82
Author(s):  
Cornelius Ikediashi ◽  
Bassam Bjeirmi
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Pole Position ◽  
Project Delivery ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Skills Shortages

Australia remains in pole position to become the world’s leading exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the number one exporter in the future. Maintaining this trajectory will require the oil and gas industry in Australia to remain competitive in project delivery to continue to attract investments. Yet, the Australian project delivery environment poses a big threat to this trajectory. Several research studies, organisations and institutions have come up with a long list of generic factors contributing to project management success and failure. The aim of this study is to examine oil and gas projects in Australia with a view to ascertain their success or otherwise and the specific contributing factors. This study has used a qualitative method of research by examining secondary sources of information on four recent Western Australia LNG projects (Gorgon, Wheatstone, Prelude and Ichthys) and presenting them as case studies. Specifically, the research has used mostly online sources that are either independent reports or information sourced from company websites. The key findings suggest that major oil and gas projects in Australia fail, and that failure or success is determined by the ability of the project management team to deliver the project on budget and on schedule. This is exemplified by the projects examined in this study, which have all shown cost and schedule overruns. Six critical factors are observed as contributing to cost and schedule overrun: project location, high cost of executing projects in Australia versus overseas, skills shortages, overseas manufacturing, project complexity and cultural and environment issues. Innovation, collaboration and standardisation, as adopted from other regions, are the initial practices suggested for the Australian industry to overcome all six factors and encourage further investment.

From wells to decisions—data management for coal seam gas operators in Australia as compared to conventional oil and gas operators

2011 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 716
Author(s):  
Peter Smith ◽  
Iain Paton
Keyword(s):  
Coal Seam ◽  
Data Management ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Data Access ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Coal Seam Gas ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Innovative Solutions ◽  
Conventional Oil

The large number of wells associated with typical coal seam gas (CSG) developments in Australia has changed the paradigm for field management and optimisation. Real time data access, automation and optimisation—which have been previously considered luxuries in conventional resources—are key to the development and operation of fields, which can easily reach more than 1,000 wells. The particular issue in Australia of the shortage of skilled labour and operators has increased pressure to automate field operations. This extended abstract outlines established best practices for gathering the numerous data types associated with wells and surface equipment, and converting that data into information that can inform the decision processes of engineers and managers alike. There will be analysis made of the existing standard, tools, software and data management systems from the conventional oil and gas industry, as well as how some of these can be ported to the CSG fields. The need to define industry standards that are similar to those developed over many years in the conventional oil and gas industry will be discussed. Case studies from Australia and wider international CSG operations will highlight the innovative solutions that can be realised through an integrated project from downhole to office, and how commercial off the shelf solutions have advantages over customised one-off systems. Furthermore, case studies will be presented from both CSG and conventional fields on how these enabling technologies translate into increased production, efficiencies and lift optimisation and move towards the goal of allowing engineers to make informed decisions as quickly as possible. Unique aspects of CSG operations, which require similarly unique and innovative solutions, will be highlighted in contrast to conventional oil and gas.

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