Industry News

Community and Business Reference Group meet for the sixth time

The Onshore Shale Gas Community and Business Reference Group (Reference Group) held its sixth meeting in Darwin on 13 November 2019.

Established to provide a forum for government to seek advice and share information, the Reference Group received presentations and updates on the:

• implementation of the Reserved Block Policy
• role of the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority
• development of the NT Climate Response Strategy
• detail of the SREBA framework
• progress to support NT business to capture maximum benefit from onshore gas. 

Members of the Reference Group sought clarification on a number of matters relating to the presentations which were taken on notice and will either be addressed out of session or at the next meeting in March 2020.

Ms Julie-Ann Stoll has resigned from her membership of the Reference Group. Members thanked her for her contribution and welcomed her replacement Mr Joe Martin-Jard as the representative of the Central Land Council.

For full details of the meeting and to read Communique 6 please click here.

FOR a man whose company has some impressive hydrogen plans Woodside Petroleum CEO Peter Coleman has some reservations about the future of ‘green’ or renewable hydrogen. 

Speaking on a panel that included Chevon Corporation managing director Al Williams, Shell Australia chair Zoe Yujnovich and Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association CEO Andrew McConville Coleman pointed out some of the issues well known by scientists and engineers and often forgotten by politicians: it has a lower energy density than other fuels and tiny molecules prone to escape.  

Last week the federal government released its hydrogen strategy with an aim to kickstart Australia's trade and use of the gas by 2030, taking a technology-neutral stance that still sees a place for fossil fuel-based hydrogen provided resulting carbon is captured.  Political will at state and federal level is apparent, in a huge change from even two years ago but technical expertise still lags.  

Pulling figures he used last week in Sydney at a press event on the sideline of Woodside's investor briefing day Coleman told the Resources Technology Showcase in Perth to create enough green hydrogen to equal the energy from just Pluto LNG's single train would be some 60 gigawatts.  

That equates to a solar farm the size of greater Sydney.  

"Multiply that out by all of the trains we have operating. We have to solve the problem in a different way." 

Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan, also on the panel, has been an ardent supporter of development of a state hydrogen strategy but was genuinely surprised by the figures.

Source: Energy News Bulletin

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Groundwater monitoring results at petroleum well sites in the Beetaloo Sub-basin released by Santos

The Scientific Inquiry into Hydraulic Fracturing in the Nothern Territory identified the need for a ground water monitoring program at each petroleum well site. The purpose of the program is to provide confidence that natural groundwater characteristics remain unaltered; or alternatively provide early detection of any contamination or altered hydrology that may occur as a result of petroleum activities. Monitoring results may also provide justification for further investigation or remedial action, if necessary.

Santos QNT Pty Ltd has submitted monitoring data for the Tanumbirini and Inacumba petroleum well sites on EP161 in the Beetaloo sub-basin, covering the period from December 2018 to October 2019.

This report  fulfils the Code of Pratice: Onshore Petroleum Activities in the Northern Territory (the Code) (2019) requirement for 6 months of baseline monitoring of groundwater at a well site prior to undertaking hydraulic fracturing activities.

This was also a condition of Ministerial approval of the Santos McArthur Basin 2019-2020 Hydraulic Fracturing Program Environment Management Plan (EMP).

To comply with the Code, companies are required to submit groundwater monitoring data quarterly, with the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources committed to publishing the monitoring  results from interest holders. 

The Santos groundwater monitoring program consists of:

• a Control Montoring Bore (CMB), which is located “upstream’’ and within 100m of each planned or existing petroleum well pad, screened across the Gum Ridge aquifer in compliance with the Code 
• an Impact Monitoring Bore, which is located 20m “downstream” of the location of each petroleum well.

These bores enable a comparison of the groundwater upstream and downstream of the petroleum well, to allow for an immediate identification of any variation in the groundwater that can be directly related to the petroleum activity.

The groundwater monitoring studies undertaken over the last 12 months at the Tanumbirini and Inacumba petroleum well sites operated by Santos identified very limited variation over the period, and no material changes in groundwater levels.

The variation observed was within the bounds of what we understand to be natural variation and will continue to be monitored. 

Santos has started to hydraulically fracture Tanumbirini 1 and is looking to start drilling Tanumbirini 2 and Inacumba in 2020, so the results gathered thus far provide an acceptable level of pre-activity baseline information.

To read the full report, please click here

HYDROGEN development has been a rare spot of bipartisan energy agreement between the major parties last year and through 2019 and today’s Council of Australian Governments energy ministers’ meeting in Perth will also see the launch of the National Hydrogen Strategy, which first went out for public comment in March.

One of the reasons for the enthusiasm from the Liberal Party is that the gas, even when ‘clean', can be made from fossil fuels.   

The Malcolm Turnbull-led government put A$100 million towards a brown coal to hydrogen project in Victoria's La Trobe Valley led by Kawasaki Heavy Industries to the abject disgust of renewable proponents.  

Progressive think tank The Australia Institute, which is no friend to any part of the fossil fuel industry, suspects a beat up similar to ‘clean coal' claims and believes this may fix a path for Australia for fossil fuel generated hydrogen or, as it suggests, ‘hytrojan'.  

Developing hydrogen with coal and gas risks locking in increased emissions, given the track record of carbon capture and storage. Australia should focus on hydrogen produced with renewable energy," it said.  

"Australia should focus on hydrogen produced with renewable energy." 

The Institute points to a few things already well known: the gas is used in multiple industrial processes already and created from methane or coal via methods that yield large amounts of CO2. It estimates as much as the combined emissions of the UK and Indonesia.  

For hydrogen to be ‘cleaner' when made from fossil fuels the resulting CO2 needs to be captured and sequestered.  

It suggests the specific failures of Chevron Corporation's Gorgon CCS plan - three years late but apparently now operating at 60% capacity according to a company speech this week - are a fair indication of the value of sequestration work, though CO2 from the La Trobe project will apparently be sent to CarbonNet's CCS project.  

It says Japan and South Korea's hydrogen targets are nowhere near as high as what reports from firms like ACIL Allen suggest, which has been referenced by the CSIRO and Australia's chief scientist Dr Alan Finkel.  

"For Japan the ACIL Allen hydrogen import projections for 2030 are up to 11 times Japan's official target. Even the low demand projection is two and half times the official target. The projections for South Korea are similarly high by comparison with government plans. Both countries see imports playing a much smaller role to 2030," it said. 

The debate has been characterised in Australia as a race given multiple other countries from Germany to Bahrain are also developing varied hydrogen plans and a possible export industry. As Dr Finkel himself has said, if Australia is "capture" the opportunity it needs to move fast. 

Source: Energy News Bulletin

Read more here

ORIGIN Energy and its joint venture partner Falcon Oil & Gas will accelerate drilling plans in the Beetaloo Sub-basin.

ORIGIN Energy and its joint venture partner Falcon Oil & Gas will accelerate drilling plans in the Beetaloo Sub-basin.

The NT News can reveal “excellent” preliminary drilling data at the Kyalla 117 N2 onshore gas well has prompted the move.

Kyalla 117, 600km southeast of Darwin, between Daly Waters and Elliott, is the first of two new Origin Energy appraisal wells to be drilled and fracture stimulated to help determine the potential of the resource in the Beetaloo Sub-basin.

Falcon Oil & Gas has issued a statement from its Irish headquarters saying the results have been very encouraging.

Significantly, the joint venture partners are preparing for continued operations during the Top End wet season.

Falcon Oil & Gas said drilling of the vertical section of Kyalla 117 N2 appraisal well in the Beetaloo Sub-basin had been completed to a depth of 1895m.

Falcon Oil & Gas chief CEO Philip O’Quigley was upbeat about the results.

“Preliminary results of the Kyalla 117 N2-1 vertical appraisal represents an excellent restart to the Beetaloo drilling program,” he said. The results were so good that Origin, the joint venture partners, have decided to proceed immediately to the drilling of the horizontal section.

“This signifies the confidence in the potential of the Kyalla shale,” Mr O’Quigley said. “While it is still early days to fully understand the reservoir characteristics and completion quality, drilling results are very encouraging.”

Source: NT News

Read more here

Australia can become a global hydrogen leader, creating world-class centres of excellence in hydrogen technology and research with the announcement of a new industry-led hydrogen cluster to be delivered by NERA (National Energy Resources Australia). 

The Hydrogen Industry Cluster will drive crucial collaboration across the emerging hydrogen value chain, building the scale and capabilities of existing industry start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs and further leveraging and developing their technologies that will sustain a clean, innovative, competitive and safe hydrogen industry.

The Cluster will also connect cluster members with leading Australian research organisations, supporting the commercialisation of their IP in Australia, creating high value jobs, securing investment and ultimately supporting hydrogen exports driven by a world-leading hydrogen supply chain of technology solutions and services.

The announcement of the Hydrogen Industry Cluster and NERA’s role forms a key part of the National Hydrogen Strategy released by the Council for Australian Governments (COAG).

NERA CEO Miranda Taylor said as the country’s independent Industry Growth Centre for energy resources, NERA welcomes the release of the National Hydrogen Strategy and will continue to support Australian governments harness this significant opportunity for Australia’s energy future.

“While the global hydrogen economy is still embryonic, action is needed now to ensure Australia captures the significant opportunity to help shape the production and use of hydrogen and become a leading source of hydrogen knowledge and solutions,” Ms Taylor said.

“Now is the time to connect and build our underlying hydrogen knowledge economy and help our local innovators overcome barriers to market activation through collaboration between industry, governments, researchers, innovators and SMEs."

“Through this cluster formation, we are uniquely positioned to build on Australia’s existing LNG knowledge, technological capabilities and infrastructure to tap into existing innovator networks to ensure that Australia is a major player in a global hydrogen industry by 2030, including emerging opportunities to be a supplier to markets in Asia.”

The announcement continues NERA’s strong track record of facilitating and funding the formation and development of two industry-led, energy related clusters — a subsea oil and gas cluster (Subsea Innovation Cluster Australia (SICA)) and an ocean energy cluster (Australian Ocean Energy Group (AOEG).

Cluster development forms a key part of NERA’s national initiatives that are supporting sector-wide transformational change and the development of a smart, high value, digital and export-focussed supply chain. Together these activities can unlock +$10 billion of new value for the Australian economy.

For more information on NERA’s national activities, visit nera.org.au or contact NERA Communications Manager Andrew Bennett at andrew.bennett@nera.org.au or 0405 442 669.

About the National Hydrogen Strategy

The National Hydrogen Strategy has been developed by Australian Governments to create the necessary social and regulatory framework that allows the hydrogen industry to expand, and sets out the foundations needed for Australian businesses to develop a vibrant hydrogen industry that benefits all Australians, while meeting safety and community standards. The aim of the strategy is to:

• build a clean, innovative and competitive hydrogen industry;
• position Australia’s hydrogen industry as a major global player by 2030; and
• coordinate the approach to projects that support hydrogen industry development. 

About NERA
NERA's vision is Australia as a global energy powerhouse, a sought after destination for investment and the leading source of knowledge and solution. Through a national focus, NERA's role is to grow collaboration and innovation to assist the energy resources industry manage cost structures and productivity, direct research to industry needs, deliver the future work skills required and promote fit for purpose regulation. 
To be a part of this collaboration, connect with us here or email contact@nera.org.au.

ORIGIN Energy and its joint venture partner Falcon Oil & Gas have accelerated drilling plans in the Beetaloo Sub-basin, after preliminary drilling data from the Kyalla 117 N2 onshore appraisal well yielded exciting results.

In a statement this week Irish-headquartered Falcon, which holds a 30% interest in the well, noted Kyalla 117 N2 had now been completed to a total vertical depth of 1,895 metres.

During drilling the well showed elevated gas shows with relatively high liquids, which Falcon CEO Philip O'Quigley said represented an "excellent re-start to the Beetaloo drilling program."  

Operator Origin (70%) is now preparing to drill the horizontal section of the well within the Kyalla formation.

"The election by the joint venture to immediately proceed to the drilling of the horizontal section signifies the [partners] confidence in the potential of the Kyalla shale," O'Quigley said.

The JV also acquired 45 metres of conventional coring in each of the Upper and Lower Kyalla reservoir sections.

Sidewall cores and extensive wireline logging has also been acquired, though those results have not yet been released.

 "Electric logs calibration by core analysis results together with the planned fraccing of the horizontal section will give us a more quantative view on this play," O'Quigley said.

Once drilling of the horizontal section of the well is completed, it will be fracced and then production tested.

Production testing is expected to take around 90 days, and Origin plans to continue operations during the wet season.

The big-budget Kyalla 117 N2 is the first of two wells the joint venture plan to have drilled by the end of this year, targeting the Kyalla shale liquids gas play in exploration permits EP117, EP76, and EP98.

When the well was spud in October both industry and the Northern Territory government cheered the symbolic new era of investment for the Top End.

Industry lobby body the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association said the resources being targeting would play a "vital role in revitalising the Territory's economy".

Source: Energy News Bulletin

Read more here

Iron ore billionaire Andrew Forrest has joined Mike Cannon-Brookes as a lead early backer of the $20 billion-plus Sun Cable project set to drive Asia's transition to cleaner energy.

The pair are the biggest of a group of individual investors that have jointly invested less than $50 million in the ambitious project, which would export solar power generated in outback Australia to Singapore.

"It's really just a meeting of minds and a common purpose, and the broader recognition that we have a huge energy transition to undertake, which is a vastly larger task than people appreciate," said David Griffin, chief executive of Sun Cable.

Mr Forrest's private company Squadron Energy, which is also backing an LNG import project in NSW, and Mr Cannon-Brookes' Grok Ventures are joint lead investors in the oversubscribed capital raising. The other investors have not been disclosed.

Mr Forrest said Australia's potential to be at the centre of Asia's transition to clean energy presents the Australian economy with enormous opportunities, "not just for reducing emissions but also for the economic march of our nation and global competitiveness".

"Sun Cable’s Australia-Singapore Power Link project has the potential to be an important part of this nation-building journey," he said on Wednesday.

Mr Cannon-Brookes, who revealed in an exclusive interview with The Australian Financial Review in September that he was backing the project, described the venture as "massively exciting with world-changing potential".

“In a carbon-constrained world, Australia should be a winner," he said.

"We have the resources, the ingenuity and the drive to get it done – we just have to put it all together. If we nail this, we can build a new export industry for Australia, create jobs and set our economy up for the future."

The funding will underpin early development work for the project, which would link Darwin with Singapore via an underwater power cable. It would help progress the venture towards financial close, targeted for late 2023.

The project, which was revealed earlier this year, involves a 10 gigawatt solar farm and circa 22 gigawatt-hour battery storage plant, to be built near Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. Power would be transmitted through a high-voltage, direct-current 4500 kilometre interconnector to Singapore, which would include a fibre-optic cable.

Squadron chief executive Stuart Johnston said part of the attraction of the project was its use of existing technology that had not been applied at such a scale before, rather than relying on processes yet to be developed.

Source: Australian Financial Review

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The offshore regulator has approved Eni’s plans to drill a third a development well at its Blacktip field offshore Western Australia in permit WA-33-L in the Bonaparte Basin, some 300 kilometres west-south-west of Darwin. 

The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority gave the Italian oiler the go-ahead, it said last week.  

Blacktip started operation a decade ago and produces gas and condensate from two wells. Eni has a 100% interest in the project.  

The field was discovered in 2001 and is in water depths of around 50m.  

The main field reservoir of Blacktip is a four-way dip closure made of stacked gas-bearing sandstones. 

The sandstones are of the Lower Triassic Mt Goodwin formation and Permian - Upper Carboniferous Keyling and Treachery formations. Eni says recoverable reserves are around 150 million barrels of oil equivalent. 

The offshore facilities consist of a well-head platform, two producing wells, flowlines and a subsea gas export pipeline bringing gas, condensate and produced water to the Yelcherr Gas Plant near Wadeye in the Northern Territory.  

The gas is used for power production in the Top End.  

Source: Energy News Bulletin

Read more here.

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