Chevron Australia announces Gorgon Stage Two
Chevron Australia has announced the start of Gorgon Stage Two Project (GS2) at the Gorgon LNG project off Western Australia. The $A5.1-billion program will include 11 new wells, 7 in the Gorgon field 150 km north of Onslow and 4 in Janz-Io field another 70 km offshore. There also will be new subsea installations and pipelaying work.
The drilling program, which is expected to begin in 2019, is designed to maintain future gas supply to ensure the overall Gorgon project will maintain target production of 15.6 million tonnes/year of LNG for the life of the project, over the next 30 to 40 years.
The Gorgon project, the largest single resource project in Australia’s history, comprises offshore field facilities feeding gas and condensate into three LNG trains and a domestic gas plant on Barrow Island. It came on stream early in 2016 with the first LNG cargo departing in March of that year. Since then more than 250 cargoes have been shipped to Asian markets.
A domestic gas plant came on stream in December 2016, supplying 200 terajoules/day of gas into Western Australia through the Dampier-Bunbury trunkline. There are plans to increase output to 300 terajoules/day.
The operator, Chevron, has a 47.3% stake in the project. Partners include ExxonMobil Corp. 25%, Royal Dutch Shell PLC 25%, Osaka Gas 1.25%, Tokyo Gas 1%, and JERA 0.417%.
Premier Mark McGowan welcomed Chevron Australia’s subsea development at the Gorgon natural gas project – work that will create hundreds of Western Australian jobs, continued domestic gas supplies and provide a major boost to the State’s economy. The project is expected to create hundreds of jobs over several years in areas including drilling, subsea installation, pipe-laying and project management as well as ongoing operational jobs into the future.
The WA Government will work with Chevron to ensure that local content is maximised on the project under Chevron’s policies in areas such as manufacturing, and that apprenticeship and traineeship opportunities are created.
Last month, the WA Government announced plans to establish an LNG Jobs Taskforce to establish Western Australia as an LNG hub, and ensure industry and government work collaboratively to maximise benefits that flow from the local LNG industry.
Premier Mark McGowan commented:“I congratulate Chevron Australia on this next development phase at the Gorgon project, which will undoubtedly provide hundreds of new jobs for Western Australians. This is a major State-building project that will deliver a significant boost to our economy, and is another sign that WA is getting back on track – the economy is improving, confidence is up and jobs are being created. The Gorgon project off the North-West coast is one of the biggest resources projects in Australia’s history, delivering jobs to thousands of WA workers and big benefits to the wider economy.”