Offshore staff

PERTH, Western Australia -- The Western Australian petroleum industry is in the midst of completing a third phase study on injecting CO2 into gas wells in major gas field developments, including the 3.5-tcf Gorgon field.

Minister for Energy, Resources, Industry and Innovation Francis Logan told participants at a recent oil and gas conference that the study has been under way for the past few years and is important for the environment, as it would help sequester CO2 as a measure against greenhouse gas emissions.

Logan said the third phase of the study involves assessing the results of a pilot well and determining the number and location of injection wells. This phase of the study also includes a monitoring plan for CO2 sequestration.

Logan cited Gorgon, where 14% of the gas is CO2, as an example of a project where Australians are making efforts to sequester CO2 as they press on with the development of a number of gas fields and downstream LNG processing plants.

According to Logan, the Western Australian petroleum industry has developed world-class skills in proving up geological structures for geo-sequestration that could prove to be part of the solution in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The geo-technical investigations assess the feasibility of large-scale CO2 sequestration and determine the possible risks involved with such operations, Logan said.

The study is being completed ahead of Western Australia-based companies' plan to develop a number of LNG projects from upstream fields to downstream processing plants.

These projects include Woodside Petroleum's plan to develop the 3.5 tcf reserves discovered in the Pluto gas field in April 2005 and the 20 tcf of combined reserves in the Torosa, Brecknock, and Calliance discoveries in the Browse basin.

2/721/2007