Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Govt defends axing of greenhouse gas controls - The West Australian

Govt defends axing of greenhouse gas controls - The West Australian:
A Government department overseen by Premier Colin Barnett pushed for pollution restrictions on Woodside Petroleum's $40 billion gas hub to be lifted just weeks before WA's Environment Minister axed them.

Days after Bill Marmion came under fire for removing greenhouse gas conditions on Chevron's Wheatstone project, it has emerged the Department of State Development asked for similar concessions for the Browse LNG development.

1 comment:

  1. Just guessing,but,to pump 42 million tonnes of crap per annum 450 klms,then having to pump it 100 + klms back and then inject it into a formation deep underground that would store it forever,sounds very expensive,much cheaper to just pay the tax,and blast it into the atmosphere.

    However I have seen reports that by using FLNG that process can be done much cheaper.
    The closer the reservois,the cheaper and easier the process.

    But as far as I know this technology is far from being perfected,for FLNG or Barrow.

    Canberra looks to Browse for CO2 dump

    The Federal Government could be on a fresh collision course with environmentalists over plans to carry out an extensive marine survey off the Kimberley coast.

    The Government agency Geoscience Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Science plan to kick off the month-long survey in May to see if they can find geological formations suitable to store and seal off carbon dioxide.

    Although the survey is designed to help efforts to find reservoirs deep beneath the seafloor that can store CO{-2}, and therefore reduce the overall level of greenhouse gas emissions, environmental groups are likely to see the Government involvement as Canberra's endorsement of more Browse Basin oil and gas project developments.

    The survey is to be carried out in waters across the Leveque Shelf, about 100km off the coast.

    Geoscience's lodgement of referral documents for the survey with the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities yesterday came as Royal Dutch Shell and Nexus Energy agreed to a $100 million exploration program on their Crux liquids project in return for holding on to the relevant Browse permits for another five years.

    The Crux partners did not spell out the value of the work program prescribed under the retention lease conditions, but it includes drilling of the Auriga prospect as well as seismic, design and commercial studies with a view to approving a floating LNG development in 2017.

    The Auriga well is due to be drilled next year with the hope of increasing Crux's overall resource.

    The Browse Basin is one of the most prospective hydrocarbon regions in the world.

    But many of its gas fields also contain high levels of CO{-2} - often above 10 per cent - while LNG developments produce additional greenhouse gas volumes.

    Unlike the Chevron-led Gorgon LNG development, which will include reinjecting CO{-2} into a reservoir beneath Barrow Island, neither the Government nor Browse proponents have yet found a suitable carbon storage solution.

    Instead, most Browse proponents have conceded their only option is to pay compensation under carbon tax or permit regulations once their projects become operational.

    Geoscience says it expects the month-long survey, which will include sonar mapping as well as physical sampling of the seafloor, to have minimal impact on marine life because it will be outside the peak periods of whale migration and dugong movement.

    The agency says that following the survey it will deliver a "detailed assessment of the potential to store CO{-2} in the Browse Basin" to government as part of the National CO2 Infrastructure Plan.
    The Carbon Storage Taskforce has previously flagged the basin's "significant" CO{-2} storage potential

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