PESA production and development review 2009

Abstract

Australian hydrocarbon production reached record levels in 2009 due to strong growth in production of LNG from the North West Shelf Venture. Domestic gas production also reached record levels. Coal seam gas production continued to grow, with the continuing development of existing fields and the development of the Kenya and Talinga projects in Queensland. Two new conventional gas projects also came into production: Blacktip in the Timor Sea and Longtom in the Gippsland Basin. However oil production was below that in the previous year, reflecting natural field decline and the absence of large scale projects reaching production. The project sanction highlight of the year was the final investment decision on the $43 billion Gorgon LNG project. This project will comprise three LNG trains with total capacity of 15 million tonnes per annum plus a domestic gas plant. The first gas from this project is planned for 2014. Eight other potential LNG projects are in various stages of front end engineering and design, most targeting final investment decisions in 2010 or 2011. The pipeline of committed and potential LNG projects has a combined value estimated to be well over $100 billion. These projects have the potential to significantly increase Australian LNG production over the next five to ten years. In the near term the start-up of the Van Gogh, Pyrenees and Turrum oil projects are expected to provide some respite from the decline in Australian oil production. Cost estimates for new projects are again escalating and skills shortages in all parts of the project delivery chain threaten the ability to deliver all of the projects under consideration.