The Western Australian Government, Woodside Petroleum and Kimberley Land Council (KLC) have signed a broad agreement to develop a liquefied natural gas (LNG) hub at James Price Point, located approximately 60 km north of Broome in the Kimberley area.
The Heads of Agreement was signed in April by Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett, Woodside Managing Director and CEO Don Voelte, and KLC CEO Wayne Bergmann.
Mr Barnett called the agreement “a significant step towards securing Western Australia’s economic and social future”.
The LNG precinct is expected to occupy approximately 1,000 hectares. With accommodation, ancillary services, and an appropriate land and sea buffer, the total area may be up to 3,500 hectares.
The process of securing land tenure over the site and completing social impact assessments is expected to be completed 2009, after which the Western Australian Government will begin the land acquisition processes.
“We’ll acquire it as government-owned land and we will lease it out to proponents, whether it is Woodside, Inpex, or anyone else in the future,” Mr Barnett said.
“That may sound radical. I assure you it’s not. That is the way that most industrial land in Western Australia has been acquired and operated.”
Potential projects
Currently, Woodside and its Browse Gas Project joint venture partners – BHP Billiton, BP Developments Australia, Chevron Australia and Shell Development Australia – are considering the hub as the project’s onshore development site .
The Browse project involves the development of the offshore Brecknock, Brecknock South and Tarosa fields, estimated to contain reserves of over 14 Tcf of gas and 300 million barrels of condensate.
The fields are located approximately 400 km north, northwest of Broome in Western Australia. The initial development concept for Browse involves offshore facilities and two onshore LNG processing trains, each with a capacity of 7 million tonnes per annum.
The joint venture partners have said that the processing facility will be located either at James Price Point or adjacent to Woodside’s Pluto Gas Project at Karratha. Woodside expects to make a final decision on the location for the Browse project in the second half of 2009.
Federal support
Minister for Resources and Energy Martin Ferguson has put his support behind the Kimberley hub.
“LNG is one of our most prospective opportunities to buffer the economy in the near term and kick start a new boom in the medium to long term,” he said.
While environmental groups raised concerns about the potential development of an LNG hub along the Kimberley coastline, the Government has said that the site will be subject to full environmental impact assessment, which is expected to be completed in 2010.
Mr Barnett stated “The Western Australian Government remains committed to ensuring the unique cultural and environmental values of the precinct area, and will appropriately protect the broader Kimberley region.”
Mr Voelte has stated that the optimal development of Western Australia’s gas resources is through limiting the number of LNG precincts along the coastline, and has suggested that proponents of other Western Australian gas projects should consider either the hub or existing facilities for development.
