gorgon gas reaches australian homes

The Chevron Australia-operated Gorgon Project, one of the world’s largest natural gas projects, recently marked another milestone when it provided its first domestic gas supplies to the Western Australian market. The delivery was transported from Gorgon’s domestic gas plant on Barrow Island, about 37 miles (60km) off the northwest coast of Western Australia. The project is supplied from the Gorgon and Jansz-Io gas fields, located between 80 miles (130 km) and 136 miles (220 km) off the northwest coast of Western Australia.

“This is a significant development for domestic gas in Western Australia and we are committed to being a safe and reliable supplier of domestic gas to our customers for decades to come,” said Nigel Hearne, managing director of Chevron Australia.

Gorgon is the most significant entry into the Western Australian domestic gas market in almost 30 years. At full capacity and subject to market demand, Gorgon could supply up to 300 Tj/d of gas to the Western Australian market, equivalent to generating enough electricity for 2.5 million households.

Left: The Asia Excellence, one of six new LNG vessels in Chevron Shipping’s fleet, delivered the first cargo of LNG from the Gorgon Project to foundation customer Chubu Electric in Japan in 2016.
Right: At full capacity, Gorgon domestic gas can generate enough electricity to supply 2.5 million households. That’s equivalent to all the homes in Perth and Melbourne.

The delivery of domestic gas is part of Gorgon’s long-term supply commitment. It follows the first shipment of LNG from Gorgon’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing train, which departed from Barrow Island in March 2016 and was delivered to one of Chevron’s foundation partners, Chubu Electric Power (now JERA), in Japan. Gorgon’s second LNG train achieved first gas on October 25, 2016.

As of early March 2017, Trains 1 and 2 at Gorgon were producing about 230,000 oil-equivalent barrels a day of LNG and domestic gas. Twenty-two cargos of LNG have been shipped thus far in 2017. On March 28th, first gas was achieved at Train 3 of the Gorgon Project.

Domestic gas from Gorgon is transported to the mainland via a 56-mile (90-km) pipeline, connecting into the existing Dampier-to-Bunbury natural gas pipeline for delivery to residential and commercial consumers across the state. Construction of the 20-inch domestic gas pipeline began in 2011 and was completed by mid-2013.

“Cultural heritage surveys and monitoring of the onshore pipeline route was undertaken in partnership with representatives from the Kuruma Marthudunera and the Yaburara and Coastal Mardudhunera people,” said Jeff Brubaker, Gorgon development director. “This ensured the pipeline route successfully avoided known Aboriginal heritage sites.”

“As part of the rehabilitation activities, we planted more than 4,000 mangrove seedlings along the pipeline route to assist vegetation and restabilization of the environment,” Brubaker continued. “While there was no specific requirement to replant mangroves along the corridor, we identified an opportunity for a best practice environmental outcome.”