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Environmental Protection on Barrow Island
ChevronTexaco's management of the Barrow Island oilfield off Western Australia is widely recognized as an industry benchmark for the coexistence of petroleum development and biodiversity protection. The island, a Class A Nature Reserve, supports 14 terrestrial mammal species, 54 terrestrial reptile species and more than 110 bird species - some of which are extinct on Australia's mainland but thrive on Barrow.
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| On Australia's Barrow Island, 227 native plants, 54 reptiles and 110 types of birds thrive alongside ChevronTexaco oil field operations. |
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Since the beginning of operations in 1964, Barrow Island has seen more than 1,000 kilometers of seismic surveys, nearly 900 wells drilled and production of almost 300 million barrels of oil. Yet the island's full suite of native species has been kept intact and, through a strict quarantine program, ChevronTexaco has helped prevent the introduction and spread of invasive plants and animals that has proved disastrous for the indigenous species of so many other islands.
Now, as part of the Gorgon Venture, ChevronTexaco and its partners have proposed developing natural gas from the offshore Gorgon Field, one of the largest single gas fields ever discovered in Australia. Operated by ChevronTexaco, the project would transport the gas 43 miles southeast to Barrow, where it would be processed into liquid products and domestic gas. Liquids would be shipped to customers in the Asia-Pacific region, while gas would be piped 50 miles to the mainland. Total land disturbance for the gas processing facilities and associated infrastructure would be no more than 740 acres; the combined area used on the island for oil operations and gas processing would remain at less than 5 percent of the island.
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| ChevronTexaco works to ensure that native animals, such as this perentie lizard, coexist with oil field operations. |
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At the request of the Western Australian Government, Gorgon Venture partners completed a comprehensive Environmental, Social and Economic (ESE) Review of the project. The Government specified that the ESE review must demonstrate that the proposed Gorgon gas development could generate social and economic benefits, maintain the conservation values of the island as well as demonstrate net conservation benefits. This is the first resource development proposal subjected to such a comprehensive sustainability review process in Western Australia.
The project's potential ecological impacts have been assessed by independent, specialized ecologists. Their work shows that the proposed development would not result in significant adverse impacts to important wildlife habitats, restricted vegetation types or marine areas with unique conservation significance. A key element of environmental management is building on the existing robust quarantine procedures.
Although the development of Gorgon gas would bring substantial benefits, the gas field does present some unique challenges. Gorgon gas contains a relatively high content of carbon dioxide (CO2 ), which results in substantial treatment cost and potentially relatively large greenhouse gas emissions. Barrow Island provides a unique opportunity to reinject CO2 into saline reservoirs deep beneath the island. Reinjection, combined with current best practice in plant design, would make the development one of the most greenhouse gas-efficient projects of its type in the world.
In addition to using environmental best practices, the project also would provide significant economic benefits. We expect the development to provide some 6,000 jobs, directly and indirectly, throughout Australia, of which 1,700 jobs would be in Western Australia. Over the life of the project, we estimate there would be approximately US$6.5 billion in new investment and $10 billion in state and commonwealth taxes and royalties. Annually, gross domestic product (GDP) would be increased by $2 billion and projected exports by $1.2 billion.
With government and environmental approvals, construction on the Gorgon project could begin in 2005.
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