#Official Energy Thread

[rev]

Promise of oil, thousands of jobs as companies hunt in Great Australian Bight

NIGEL AUSTIN
The Advertiser
January 18, 2015 10:52PM


Where the oil drilling could happen in the Bight.

OIL explorers are racing to the Great Australian Bight to uncover an enormous untapped resource that promises thousands of South Australian jobs.

News that up to four new seismic survey missions will this year join three already probing the seabed off South Australia is being seen as a sign of unprecedented confidence in the region’s oil and gas potential.

What prospectors believe may be the world’s next major new oilfield would present a huge economic boost to the state, especially Eyre Peninsula, and create thousands of jobs on land and at sea.

A total of six oil companies will spend $1.2 billion on surveys and the drilling of nine wells across 38,785 sq km of seabed this year and next, the enormous investment coming despite a slump in world oil prices to half what they were last year

State Development Energy Resources Department executive director Barry Goldstein said that if research results were favourable, the explorers would spend a further $1.1 billion on another 13 wells and 9269 sq km of 3D seismic surveys in the following three years.

Mr Goldstein said the bight was the largest relatively unexplored area in the world and that resource companies were attracted by the potential for “giant petroleum accumulations”.

“That perception is sufficient, even at today’s low prices, because they won’t be low forever, for explorers to persist,” he said.

“If exploration is a success, it would take no fewer than five years and as many as 10 years to bring a discovery into production because of the need to get a production facility in place.”

SA Chamber of Mines and Energy chief executive Jason Kuchel said the bight was considered to have the potential to be one of the largest offshore oil basins in the world.

He said the value of oil production from a successful oilfield would be worth many tens of billions of dollars.

Multinational oil company BP has expressed its confidence in the region through a $1.437 billion exploration program, starting with $605 million to be spent on its search for oil and gas, much of it in the next two years.

BP, in partnership with Statoil (30 per cent), is the most advanced explorer and will drill four wells from early next year until late 2017.
The Royal Dutch Shell Olympus tension leg platform sets sail from Kiewit Offshore Service

This follows one year of seismic survey work in 2012, which gave it enough confidence to start drilling in its permit areas, about 300km southwest of Ceduna.

Community benefits will start flowing from the BP exploration this year, with tenders to be issued soon for port facilities at Port Adelaide, a heliport, runway, passenger terminal and hangar at Ceduna and an alternative airfield and passenger terminal at Fowlers Bay, west of Ceduna.

A BP spokesman said some jobs would be created in transport and logistics, supplying fuel, food and transport services.

BP has awarded a $138 million aviation contract to Bristow Helicopters to supply a plane to take workers from Adelaide to Ceduna and supply three helicopters to ferry workers to the oil rig, while a $900 million deep sea oil rig is being built in South Korea.

Chevron has two permit areas next to BP and plans to drill four wells at a cost of more than $500 million between 2016 and 2019 and the two companies plan to share airport and port facilities.

The latest oil exploration activity started in October when a Petroleum Geo-Services survey ship began seismic work on behalf of a Santos and Murphy Oil joint-venture, while TGS launched two survey vessels in December.

Further plans by major international service companies Ion and Schlumberger to produce independent seismic surveys to sell to oil companies are not finalised.

Mr Goldstein said drilling in the bight would be a boon for the state and nation in terms of tax receipts, royalties and energy security, but would have to be carried out in a way that protects human health, safety and the environment.

The tuna industry is concerned about possible interference with migration patterns and is monitoring mining developments.

Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna Industry Association chief executive Brian Jeffriess, however, said the industry had no major problem with the exploration because the majority view was that the oil industry was good for the state and generated jobs.

The Wilderness Society SA director Peter Owen said the environmental group was opposed to developing an oil industry in the bight for many reasons, these including concerns about possible affects on the marine park, marine species and the environment.

The Australian Conservation Foundation could be contacted for comment.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sout ... 7188977776

[rhino]

Despite being an environmentalist, I say Bring This On! Would be a fantastic boon to the state, and great for development on the west coast. How is oil usually shipped from offshore? Is it piped on-shore and exported from an on-shore port, or is it pumped straight into carriers from the offshore rigs?

[Wayno]

Wave energy project 'on ice'
VALERINA CHANGARATHIL From: The Advertiser November 15, 2010 6:11PM

A PROPOSED $400 million wave energy project at Port MacDonnell in South Australia has been "put on ice" due to lack of funding.

Carnegie Wave Energy was licensed by the State Government to test its technology on a 17,000ha stretch of seabed for an initial three-year period in February, 2009.

Carnegie Wave managing director Dr Michael Ottaviano said the company was keen to do more, but was looking for government funding.

"Our planned 50MW project was put on ice after we missed out on a Federal Government grant last year,'' he said.

"We are still doing desktop work on the Port MacDonnell site and are keen to do more,'' Dr Ottaviano said.

The Perth-based listed entity has, since the start of this year, been working on a site close to home to test its CETO technology after the WA Government committed $12.5 million in funding.

CETO technology uses the movement of buoys anchored on the ocean floor to drive onshore turbines. Wave motion moves the buoys, driving the pumps and delivering pressurised water to the shore to generate electricity.

Carnegie also has wave energy licences in Victoria and New South Wales.

Initial plans were for Carnegie to complete a small-scale (5-6 MW) plant by 2011 and link up a 50MW plant to the national grid by 2013.

Meanwhile, another company, Wave Rider Energy which uses offshore wave energy converter technology is working on its $5 million plant at Elliston. Heavy steel processor and manufacturer RPG Australia is building the 200-tonne, 110m wide steel structure expected to be in the water by October, 2011.

These guys, Carnegie Wave Energy, have just turned on the worlds first wave energy power plan in WA. It's connected to the national grid.

[monotonehell]

These guys, Carnegie Wave Energy, have just turned on the worlds first wave energy power plan in WA. It's connected to the national grid.

That's clever, considering WA is not part of the National Grid.

Be good to get a few more of these kinds of things going to see what we should be doing in the future.

[Wayno]

Bit of a stretch from Weatherill that businesses will setup here because of lower emissions.

From ABC online:

French company to carbon capture in Adelaide in Australia's first commercial attempt to burn emission-free fossil fuels

A carbon capture plant to be built on Torrens Island Power Station in Adelaide's north-west is expected to have the same impact as taking 16,000 cars off the road.

French company Air Liquide has announced it will run the multi-million-dollar plant, which will capture up to 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

Instead of going into the atmosphere, it will be used to carbonate drinks and treat waste water.

The power station's managing director Andy Vesey expected it to be running by the second half of next year.

Premier Jay Weatherill said it would make SA the first Australian state to capture carbon emissions from a power station and would encourage other businesses to invest.

"We're leading the nation, both in this technology, but also in our carbon footprint and this will become an increasingly important competitive edge for South Australian businesses," he said.

"People will be attracted to come here and set up their operations on the basis of our lower carbon footprint."

AGL took ownership of the 1,280 megawatt gas-fired station from TRUenergy, now called Energy Australia, in 2007.

It is the largest power station in SA, and the largest gas-fired power station in Australia.

Half the site is to be mothballed in 2017 when four of its older generating units, collectively known as A-station, are taken out of service.

The carbon capture it to take place from B-station.

[PeFe]

From the ABC

Alinta Energy to close power stations at Port Augusta and coal mine at Leigh Creek

Coal-fired power stations at Port Augusta in South Australia, and the outback mine which supplies them, will close from early 2018 or possibly sooner, Alinta Energy says.

The company said its Northern and Playford B power stations and Leigh Creek coal mine would not operate beyond March 2018 and might close even sooner.

The closures are not expected before next March but were inevitable as operations had become "increasingly uneconomic", according to the company.

Alinta Energy chief executive officer Jeff Dimery said the decision to close operations had been outlined to the workforce and key stakeholders.

He said the company was liaising closely with the South Australian Government, unions and the communities at Port Augusta and Leigh Creek about the changes.



History of coal-fired power in SA
•1943 Coal mining began at Leigh Creek
•1954 Port Augusta power station commissioned to provide baseload power for SA
•1960 Power station renamed Playford
•1985 Northern power station commissioned
•1999 Power firm ETSA privatised, along with power stations
•2012 Playford B station mothballed
•2015 Alinta announces mine and power station closures by 2018

"There are approximately 440 employees that will be affected by this difficult decision," he said.

"Their welfare and that of their families is our highest priority at this time.

"Our decision to close the business has been made at the conclusion of a detailed strategic review, during which we have consulted extensively and investigated a range of options with key stakeholders over recent months, including the SA Government."

Mr Dimery said that during more than four years of running the business, Alinta had incurred operating losses of about $100 million while also investing another $200 million to extend the operating life of the business.

He said there had been a decline in energy demands in SA as the number of industrial customers had fallen and households had become more efficient, meaning the state had a significant oversupply of available power.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-11/p ... gy/6537814

[rhino]

Mr Abbott revealed his true feelings of disdain for windfarms this morning, shamelessly boasting about his efforts to reduce them.

“What we did recently in the Senate was to reduce, Alan, capital R-E-D-U-C-E, the number of these things that we are going to get in the future … I frankly would have liked to have reduced the number a lot more but we got the best deal we could out of the Senate and if we hadn’t had a deal, Alan, we would have been stuck with even more of these things …' Tony Abbott on 2gb radio, 11 June 2015.

[claybro]

There will be a lot of folk in regional Australia breathing a sigh of releif on this. These things are an environmental disaster. It is no conincidence that SA had some of the worst power generating capacity in Australia and was about to require huge power station upgrades, but the state government instead put a lot of eggs into the windfarm basket. A smart move short term, but our baseload requires power to be generated on our behalf and sent from interstate. So whilst we in SA congratualte ouselves on our green credentials, there is a filthy brown coal power station some where in South East Vicotria churning out standby power for us to stop the lights going out. God knows what will happen when the Vics changover to wind power. Or what happens in 20 years when 1000's of these shiny new turbines require complete overhall. Large scale wind farms in many countries are now being seen as a brief aberation back to old technology. Maybe with a federal government not so obsessed with wind and solar farms, they may hopefully start to look at utilising some of our huge uranium reserves in this state of our domestic use.

[rhino]

Torrens Island is gas fired and provides base-load power. Tf converting either the Northern or the Playford power station to gas too, and there is a plant at Hallett using gas too. This state has no shortage of gas, we don't need coal.

I disagree with you regarding the windfarms Claybro, I would like to see more of them, and see tidal energy too, but I agree with you on the nuclear point.

[claybro]

Torrens Island is gas fired and provides base-load power. Tf converting either the Northern or the Playford power station to gas too, and there is a plant at Hallett using gas too. This state has no shortage of gas, we don't need coal.

I disagree with you regarding the windfarms Claybro, I would like to see more of them, and see tidal energy too, but I agree with you on the nuclear point.

Yes Rhino, this state does have all the raw materials we need to produce our own energy. My point was, that because we have allowed a greater proportion of our own energy to be generated by an intermittent sorce (wind), and not invested enough in our own generating capacity via stable baseload fuels, we have become more reliant on imported electricity, from Vicotoria, which is generated using the worst kind of coal.

[Vee]

Update on the Hornsdale Wind Farm project.
This has received the green light for construction to begin soon on the 100+ turbine wind farm near Jamestown. Hornsdale wind farm gained a 20 year supply contract in a recent ACT wind auction.

The project means construction jobs and ongoing local jobs injecting $ into regional SA and the state economy.
And more clean energy, in line with the SA's commitment to renewable energy (50% RET by 2050).

Hornsdale Wind Farm will generate approximately 1,050,000 mega watt hours of clean, renewable electricity into the national power grid each year, thereby making a major contribution to Australia’s greenhouse gas reductions.

These reductions will be equivalent to taking either 290,000 cars off the road or planting 1,900,000 trees, producing enough electricity to power approximately 180,000 homes with renewable energy.

http://www.hornsdalewindfarm.com.au/

Hornsdale gets green light.
Renew Economy:

... the primary driver for the project is not the RET, but the ACT feed in tariff, where it secured a 20-year feed-in tariff of $92/MWh under the recent auction.

Construction on the first 100MW is expected to begin in months, with South Australian firms Catcon and CPP confirmed as contractors, and is expected to be in operation in 2017.

“This project helps reinforce South Australia’s reputation as the country’s foremost renewable energy state, and helps contribute to the $10 billion low carbon investment target as well as the (state’s) 50 per cent renewable energy target , both to be achieved by 2025"

Renew Economy:
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/100mw-h ... ight-94458

[AdelaideGold]

Interesting...

http://www.smh.com.au/business/energy/w ... mlb0z.html

[monotonehell]

Interesting...
http://www.smh.com.au/business/energy/w ... mlb0z.html

If I'm reading that right, the tl;dr is non-baseload renewables are driving baseload non-renewables out of the marketplace creating a niche for storage technology and baseload renewables - but with a short term surge in prices as suppliers attempt to cover expected short term losses?

Could it be that the market is working?

[PeFe]

From News.com.au

Lyon Group plans to build the world’s biggest solar and battery project in Roxby Downs starting next year


WORLD’S LARGEST: An artist's impression of the $300 million Kingfisher solar and battery project planned for Roxby Downs.

UP to 800,000 individual solar panels will make up the world’s largest solar plus battery project which is targeted for construction in regional South Australia next year.
The mooted $300 million Kingfisher scheme in Roxby Downs will generate around 100 jobs during construction and is being promoted as a ground breaking enterprise to usher in greater stability and efficiency for solar power output.
Giant batteries housed in shipping container sized units alongside the panels will be used to top up power when required David Green, a director of Brisbane based Lyon Group which is behind the project has announced.
“The area around Roxby Downs is one of the best solar resources in the country,” Mr Green said. “We’re working with the SA government and Roxby Downs council to allocate land for the project.”
The plan comes as SA households and businesses struggle with rising and volatile electricity prices with debate continuing as to how to best integrate renewable energy into the national electricity market.
A benefit is expected to be cheaper energy down the track.
“Baseload electricity pool prices in SA are nearing $100/MWh which is a huge cost for major energy users and affects their productivity and global competitiveness,” he added.
“Investor pressure and economics are lining up behind solar and storage for Australia.”
“SA major energy users need an energy supply answer which reduces costs while also providing a good emission outcome. We think Kingfisher is a big part of the energy solution for the state.”

Full article : http://www.news.com.au/national/south-a ... 8b527f1264

Why isn't this proposed/or being built at Port Augusta?
Port Augusta is already an energy connection hub, thanks to the previously operating coal fired power station.
I did't even know that Roxby Downs is part of the National Electricity grid, if so it must at the very north western end...
And if this gets built where does it leave the various proposals for a solar farm near Port Augusta?

[Waewick]

They are competing interests. I'd say it's one or the other.