Industry News

AUSTRALIAN gas producer and LNG exporter Origin Energy will push forward with operations at its Kyalla-117 well, despite previously saying it would delay artificial lift activities.

Kyalla-117 was drilled by Origin (77.5%) and Falcon Oil & Gas (22.5%) in exploration permit EP117. It was fracced this year, however testing following fraccing showed the well had greater pressures than the reservoir, affecting flow rates. 

On Thursday, the venture announced they would re-enter Kyalla-117 with coiled tubing and apply nitrogen lift to lower the pressure in the wellbore and sustain a gas breakthrough. 

The nitrogen lift was previously expected to take place next year following the wet season.  

"The joint venture has decided to execute operations without delay with all the necessary equipment and consumables for the nitrogen lift being prepared to mobilise to the well site," Falcon said in a statement overnight. 

If successful, the artificial lift will allow for extended production testing. 

The nitrogen injection should lift the fluids in the well and lower pressures, a common technique which was carried out at Origin's earlier exploration well Amungee-NW-1H back in 2016.

The well, which successfully flowed at 1.1 million cubic feet per day over almost two months from the Velkerri B Shale, defined a potential gas-in-place of 61 trillion cubic feet within an area covering 1968 square kilometres across Origin's three permits.

The venture drilled its second well, Kyalla-117 as an appraisal well following the success of Amungee-NW-1H, to a total depth of 3809 metres with a 1579 lateral section in February. 

Source: Energy News Bulletin

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PRIVATELY held Tamboran Resources has acquired three permits in the Beetaloo Sub-basin after announcing it would acquire Sweetpea Petroleum yesterday in an all-scrip deal.

It said this was a move to strategically expand its foothold in the highly prospective frontier basin in the Northern Territory. 

Tamboran already owns a 25% stake in the EP161 tenement in the Beetaloo alongside Santos (75%). 

The company will now add to its portfolio exploration permits EP136, EP143 and EP197. 

EP136 sits adjacent to the EP161 permit and according to Tamboran covers a portion of the Beetaloo with the "thickest and highest quality" shales as delineated by seismic and data from previous wells. 

"The acquisition of EP 136 is a very important milestone for the company," Tamboran chief executive Joel Riddle. 

"We are now resuming our role as an operator for what we believe will be the next phase of development in the Beetaloo."

Tamboran and Santos have already drilled one well, Tanumbirini-1, in EP161 which was successfully fracced this earlier this year. 

The well flowed at a rate of 2.3 million cubic feet of gas per day over a 90-hour test. 

Shortly after the flow test Tamboran and Santos announced they would drill two appraisal wells, Tanumbirini-1 and Tanumbirini-3, both of which will target the Middle Velkerri Formation. 

The wells are expected to be drilled over the next 12 months following the wet season. 

Tamboran noted that the new permit EP136 sits next to Origin Energy and Falcon Oil & Gas' EP76. Origin and Falcon are planning to drill a new exploration well targeting the same Middle Velkerri Formation next year. 

"In total, this area may see between three and five new delineation wells or results over the next year making this one of the most active onshore exploration plays globally," Riddle said. 

Source: Energy News Bulletin

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AUSTRALIAN oil and gas company Central Petroleum has varied its sales agreement for 3.5 petajoules of gas per annum with Macqurie and secured  a 12 month extension to its finance facility with the bank. 

The agreement changes a prior arrangement for the bank to hold an option to take gas between 2022-23 to it making a firm payment by December 15, giving the Northern Territory and Queensland-focussed company immediate funds for development work at the Mereenie gas field. 

Central will supply the gas to the bank or its nominee over 2022-23.  

It plans the recompletion of four existing wells and the drilling of two new production wells in the Top End.  

The project will add 5 terajoules of gas per day bringing the total to 45TJ/d with 20TJ/d net to Central.  

The company was given the all clear by the Top End regulator this week for the field work.  

The new close date for the $70 million facility is the end of September 2022.  

Central and Macquarie first struck a gas sales and prepayment agreement in May 2016 for 5.2PJ of gas for delivery this and next year.  

"The new deal will essentially continue gas deliveries to Macquaries at the same rate for a further two years," Central said.  

This brings its contracted gas sales to 7.5PJ for 2022 and 5.2PJ in 2023.  

It also preserves firm contracting capacity for delivery through the proposed Amadeus to Moomba gas pipeline, which could be online by 2024. 

Source: Energy News Bulletin

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INPEX contractor Kawasaki Heavy Industries has been found not guilty of causing the death of a subcontractor who died in horrific circumstances at the ichthys LNG project in 2017.

Northern Territory WorkSafe laid charges against contractors Kawasaki Heavy Industries and sub-contractor Whittens Group after they allegedly "failed in their health and safety" duties resulting in the death of employee Carl Delaney in November 2017 at the Ichthys onshore LNG plant. 

According to court documents, Kawasaki has been found not guilty of negligence and causing the death of the employee. 

On November 29, 2017, Delaney was working for subcontractor Whittens conducting insulation works on one of the LNG tanks.

According to NTWorkSafe the tasks being performed were "high risk".

Delaney was working in a confined space when he fell from a height into the tank and was engulfed in an insulation called Perlite. He died of suffocation, according to a coroner's report.

He was working alone when he fell.

The report found that while workers were required to connect to safety harnesses, there was a culture of ignoring this requirement.

NTWorkSafe alleged both contractors did not provide and maintain a safe system of work and provide supervision as required under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

Northern Territory Local Court judge Tanya Fong Lim quashed the charges against Kawasaki, however said the complaint against subcontractor Whittens remained. 

Source: Energy News Bulletin

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EMPIRE Energy hosted energy and emissions reduction minister Angus Taylor at its Carpentaria-1 well Friday, as well as Senator Sam McMahon and the Northern Territory leader of the opposition Lia Finocchiaro and the Darwin representative of Australia’s peak oil and gas lobby body. 

The well is in Empire's EP187 in the Northern Territory's Beetaloo Sub-basin, which is first cab off the rank for the government's $28.3 million Strategic Basin Plans, to develop five of Australia's gas basins, announced as part of the federal budget.  

A second trip tomorrow will involve members of the sitting Territory government which was returned to power last month.  

"We've met with him (Taylor) before earlier this year but this is the first well (drilled) in the basin since the gas-fired recovery was announced and on the back of that we invited him to join us on site," managing director Alex Underwood told Energy News. 

It's an unusual trip in some ways given the Empire is nowhere near the size of other Beetaloo players Origin Energy, which shares the Kyalla-189 well with Irish Falcon Oil & Gas, or Santos  but perfect timing given the well results of last week.  

Last Monday Empire announced the well, being drilled with Schlumberger Land Rig 183, had intersected an "extensive" interval of liquids rich gas in the Velkerri Shale based on mud gas liquids readings and the proportion of liquids "dramatically" exceeds analogue wells previously drilled in the area and also exceeds its own pre-drill estimates.  

The well will be cased and then after data is analysed a forward drilling program for next year's dry season will be developed.  

"It's very encouraging for the company that we now have strong support at the Territory and federal level for development of this basin, the government here has shown leadership with respect to development and Darwin is already a major LNG hub," Underwood said.  

"The government here recognises that that gas development will bring broader economic benefits and that gas will be part of the energy mix as renewables have a larger share of power generation to stablise the grid. 

"I just think it was important for a senior member of the federal government to see the results of this basin."  

"The Beetaloo Basin is a world-class resource that has the potential to drive significant development in the Top End to create local jobs and help Australia remain a world leader in gas," a statement from Taylor's office  said. 

"The government's Strategic Basin Plans will accelerate this development, driving investment and job creation in our regional and Indigenous communities as we recover from COVID-19." 

The same day anti-fraccing group Lock the Gate posted protest photos on its Twitter account but Underwood said there had been no protests at the site and was caught off guard when first asked about protests by Energy News Friday. 

Source: Energy News Bulletin

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The last few months have created a new focus across Australia Supply Chains, especially the reliance on imported goods and extended supply chains. For many products the case for ‘making it here’ is being re-assessed. This is a trend that has been underway for at least five years in North America and Europe, but COVID 19 is finally prompting a re-evaluation of Australia’s over-reliance on international supply chains.

This interactive webinar will discuss and review the following:

What are the considerations about where to source?

• What are the hidden costs (total) of extended Supply Chains?
• What has changed that necessitates a re-evaluation of past sourcing decisions
• What are the six steps required to successfully bring production home?

• Learning Outcomes:

  Guidelines to help decide which inputs to source locally and which to import.

• The six steps that businesses need to take to successfully re-establish local production
• How local suppliers can position themselves to benefit from the move to local sourcing. 

Attendee numbers will be limited to 30 as this will be a fully interactive workshop.

REGISTER NOW

Presenter: Tim McLean

Tim has 32 years’ experience in the manufacturing industry in management and consulting roles. Tim is the author of two books focused on the manufacturing and supply chain challenges faced by SMEs. As the MD of TXM Lean Solutions Tim has worked in around 20 countries and 1000 factories over the past 15 years, providing him with unique insight into the current state of manufacturing and how technology and Lean is shaping businesses across a range of industries.

 

TUESDAY 18 NOVEMBER WEBINAR 12:30PM-2:30PM AEST

PRESENTER Tim McLean TXM

 

AUSTRALIAN LNG giant Origin Energy and its venture partner Falcon Oil & Gas have completed 11 stages of fraccing at the highly anticipated Kyalla-117 well in the Beetaloo Basin of the Northern Territory.

Late Friday, Falcon Oil & Gas, which holds a 22.5% stake in the Beetaloo project, told shareholders operator Origin Energy (77.5%) had completed an 11-stage fraccing program across the high-profile, high-cost, Kyalla-117 well. 

The fraccing program aimed to stimulate 11 sections across a 1579-metre horizontal section of the well targeting the Lower Kyalla Formation. 

With the fraccing activities now complete, the venture is preparing for flowback and an extended production test. According to Falcon, early stage gas flow rates are expected in the coming weeks. 

"We look forward to the next phase of operations with the production testing of the Kyalla-117 well and will update the market as results become available," Falcon chief Philip O'Quigley said in a short statement. 

Initial results from the flow test are expected in the coming weeks, and full results from the production test should be available within the first quarter of next year. 

Kyalla-117 was drilled to a total depth of 3809 metres with a 1579 lateral section in February this year. Total costs of drilling and completing the well are expected to be in the range of $50 million. 

During drilling, elevated gas shows with relatively high liquids were observed across all three of the target reservoirs. 

Origin is paying the full amount of the current operations, up to A$25 million, as part of its farm-in agreement with Falcon. 

Source: Energy News Bulletin

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THE MORRISON government is seeking to “turbo charge” investment in resources by broadening the scope of projects eligible for funding under the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.

The government NAIF fund has already provided $2.4 billion in financing for major projects across the Top End. Projects include Kalium Lakes' gas plant and lateral gas pipeline, and $37 million for Merricks Capital's Hudson Creek P12 MW gas power Station in Darwin. 

It has also helped finance Genex Energy's pumped hydro project in northern Queensland and some solar and wind renewables projects. Its largest single finance in the energy sector is worth $500 million.

Source: Energy News Bulletin

FRANCE’s Total will become Total Energies as part of its outline to change its business model and lower emissions in the next decade and predicts gas will feature heavily in its portfolio. 

The company plans to be selling 50 million tonnes of LNG per year by 2025, with cash flow from its LNG business to rise by 40% to US$4 billion per year by then, assuming a $50 per barrel oil price. It plans to decarbonise gas with biogas and hydrogen, while reducing fugitive emissions.  

It already has two hydrogen projects in Europe under development, trialling both methane-sourced hydrogen and renewable-sourced hydrogen  

INPEX has sent its 200th LNG cargo from its Ichthys LNG project 11 months after sending cargo 100 from its Darwin facility on Bladin Point. Inpex made the announcement via LinkedIn yesterday. 

It said the cargo is bound for Chiba, Japan.  

"The Energy Advance vessel loaded with 145,000 cubic metres of chilled LNG and is on its way,"  it said.  

Inpex has delivered 345 cargoes, with the remainder made up of LPG and condensate cargoes.