Victoria

First gas production commenced at the Henry and Netherby gas fields in February 2010, following the installation of a 22 km, 12 inch diameter pipeline to connect subsea production trees at the Henry-2 and Netherby-1 wells with existing infrastructure at the Casino field. Subsea 7 completed the $93 million pipeline installation contract.

The fields are located in VIC/L30 in the Otway Basin, and are a joint venture between Santos, AWE and Mitsui E&P. Gas from the fields will be sold under an existing gas sales agreement with TRUenergy, supplying southeast Australia.

Subsea 7 completed construction of the 17 km pipeline for Nexus Energy’s Longtom Gas Field Development, located approximately 35 km offshore eastern Victoria. The pipeline connects into Santos’ existing Patricia-Baleen Pipeline, which brings the gas to shore to be processed at facilities near Orbost. Santos has agreed to process and purchase up to 350 PJ of raw gas from the Longtom field.

Discovered in 1999, the Kipper Gas Field is estimated to contain approximately 620 Bcf of recoverable gas and 30 MMbbl of condensate/LPG. The field will be developed by installation of four subsea wells and associated pipeline infrastructure.

Gas will be piped to shore via the West Tuna platform and processed through Esso and BHP Billiton’s infrastructure and processing facilities in Longford. First gas is expected in the second half of 2011, subject to finalisation of construction contracts.

Meanwhile, a further study for the efficient recovery of all the hydrocarbons identified in the Basker, Manta, and Gummy fields has been undertaken by the BMG Joint Venture. The gas component of the project would involve the drilling of gas wells into the Manta and Gummy fields, the installation of a gas pipeline to join the onshore Eastern Gas Pipeline and a new FPSO to replace the Crystal Ocean and Basker Spirit shuttle tankers. It is now under review following lower than expected 2P reserves estimates from the fields.

In addition, 3D Oil has revised the development plan for its West Seahorse Oil Field development, located in the Bass Strait. The new field development involves the connection of the field to an onshore plant via the construction of two 41 km pipelines – a 6 inch oil production pipeline and 3 inch gas lift pipeline. The parallel pipelines will have a total length of 41 km, including 14 km offshore and 27 km onshore. The 3 inch diameter gas export/import pipeline would connect to the Longford to Dandenong Gas Pipeline. First oil is anticipated in 2012.

Northern Territory

In April 2010, Woodside and its joint venture partners selected a floating LNG (FLNG) development concept for the Greater Sunrise Development Project, which would produce approximately 4 MMt/a of LNG for export. The floating facility would store and export LNG via an LNG carrier and condensate via a shuttle tanker.

However, the Timor-Leste Government is maintaining that gas should be piped to Timor-Leste for processing. The Greater Sunrise Gas Fields Development includes the Sunrise and Troubadour fields, located about 450 km north of Darwin and 150 km south of Timor-Leste. Previously, the Greater Sunrise joint venture had considered pipeline options to both Darwin and Timor-Leste. While Timor-Leste was the shorter option, the 184 km pipeline option would have to cross a 3.3 km deep trench, posing high technical and seismic risk as well as additional costs.

In May 2010, Inpex announced that the company had delayed a final investment decision (FID) on the development schedule for the Ichthys Gas Field Project until the fourth quarter of 2011. The first shipment of LNG was initially scheduled to be loaded in 2015. LNG production from the facility is now forecast to commence in the fourth quarter of 2016.

The Ichthys project involves the development of a semi-submersible central processing facility, a floating production storage and offloading unit, umbilicals, risers and flowlines, and an approximately 850 km export pipeline running from the gas field to Darwin. AMEC was awarded front-end engineering and design (FEED) services in May 2009, with a joint venture between JP Kenny and Aker Solutions to aid with pipeline FEED. A joint venture between KBR and Chiyoda has been awarded onshore FEED for the project.

The gas field, located in WA-285, in the Browse Basin, is expected to have an initial capacity to produce more than 8 MMt/a of LNG, 1.6 MMt/a of LPG and 100,000 bbl/d of condensate at its peak.

Western Australia

Allseas Construction Contractors has completed installation of the 180 km, 36 inch diameter offshore pipeline between Woodside Petroleum’s Pluto Gas Project platform site and the onshore LNG plant, located on the Burrup Peninsula (see page 146 for more information).

The Pluto and Xena gas fields hold dry recoverable gas volume estimated at 5 Tcf. The initial project phase includes a single LNG production train with forecast production of 4.3 MMt/a. First gas from Train 1 is on schedule for the end of 2010, and first LNG by early 2011.

Woodside is also continuing the basis of design phase for the onshore and offshore facilities, and subsea offshore pipeline for the Browse LNG Project, which will involve the construction of two LNG trains each with a capacity of 7 MMt/a, at James Price Point. Gas will be sourced from the Brecknock, Brecknock South and Tarosa fields, located approximately 425 km north, northwest of Broome.

It is expected that a FID on the project will be made by mid-2012, with first gas expected from late 2012–14.

In December 2009, Chevron awarded contracts to WorleyParsons subsidiary Intecsea and Technip Oceania for FEED works for the upstream portion of the Wheatstone LNG Development, located off the Pilbara Coast. Intecsea will design the subsea gas gathering facilities and 200 km pipeline linking the offshore platform to a gas plant located at Ashburton North, and Technip Oceania will design the production platform.

Chevron has said it is on track to make a FID for the Wheatstone project by mid-2011.

Following the announcement of a FID for the Gorgon LNG Development, Chevron has awarded a number of contracts for the project’s development during 2010. The Gorgon project involves the development of the Jansz and Gorgon fields located approximately 130–200 km off the northwest coast of Western Australia. The gas fields will be linked via subsea pipeline to the northwest coast of Barrow Island, then via an underground pipeline to three 5 MMt/a LNG trains on the Island’s central-east coast.

LNG will then be shipped to international markets, while compressed domestic gas would be delivered via a 90 km subsea pipeline to the Western Australian mainland, interconnecting with the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DBNGP).

BHP Billiton is investigating a number of options to commercialise its Scarborough and Thebe fields. These options include piping gas approximately 280 km to a proposed onshore facility at Onslow, the construction of a 5–10 MMt/a FLNG facility, or the possibility of working with other projects such as Wheatstone or Pluto.

BHP and joint venture partner ExxonMobil expect to choose a development concept within the next six to nine months, and commence a FEED contract and a definitive project schedule in the 2011 financial year.

In October 2009, SapuraAcergy was awarded a $195 million pipelay and wellhead construction contract for Apache Energy’s Devil Creek Development Project, which will involve gas from the Reindeer Gas Field transported via pipeline to an onshore plant, processed then fed into the DBNGP.

SapuraAcergy has commenced works required to install the offshore pipeline component, comprising approximately 91 km of 16 inch pipeline, including a shallow water beach approach and subsea tie-in.

Apache has delayed the estimated completion date for the shore crossing at Gnoorea Point to July 2010.

New Zealand

Origin Energy has completed final commissioning of infrastructure associated with the Kupe Gas Field, located off the coast of south Taranaki, New Zealand.

The development involved a 30 km, 12 diameter inch subsea pipeline that delivers the raw natural gas, LPG and condensate to shore; a shore crossing that will be undertaken to join the subsea pipeline to the onshore components of the project; an underground pipeline to carry raw gas from the shore crossing to a new production station; and, an underground onshore pipeline to carry treated sales gas to connect into the existing high pressure gas transmission network.

Papua New Guinea

The Papua New Guinea (PNG) Government has granted licences for the pipeline and LNG plant to participants in the PNG LNG Project, which include ExxonMobil as operator, Santos, Oil Search and Nippon Oil.

The pipeline will connect the Omati River landfall point on the southern coast of PNG to the LNG facility site. The offshore pipeline, to be constructed by Saipem, will be a 407 km, 34 inch diameter subsea gas pipeline. The offshore pipeline will connect to an approximately 450 km onshore section, to be constructed by Spiecapag, which will connect to an LNG facility.