The Commonwealth Western Australia Offshore Petroleum Joint Authority and the WA Minister for Mines and Petroleum offered Woodside Energy petroleum retention lease offers for WA-28-R, WA-29- R, WA-30-R, WA-31-R, WA-32-R, TR/5 and R2, in which the company has 30 days to accept.
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Image of Browse FLNG. From Woodside. |
The firm said, along with its Browse joint venture (JV) participants, the group has also executed the Browse FLNG development domestic gas and supply chain Key Principles Agreement (KPA) with the State of Western Australia.
The KPA sets out the JV’s commitment to negotiate a development agreement with the State for the application of the Domestic Gas Reservation Policy and the establishment of a supply chain to support the proposed development.
The principles outline that the JV will reserve for domestic use within Western Australia gas equivalent to 15% of LNG production from the State’s estimated 65% share of the Torosa field.
Moreover, in relation to the supply chain for the proposed development, the JV will seek to leverage off existing and emerging infrastructure and services where available, to support a cost effective supply chain.
Woodside, an active player in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) scene, also supports global solutions to climate change and air pollution.
Solving air pollution
In a meeting at the World Gas Conference (WGC) this month, CEO and managing director, Peter Coleman stressed how LNG can be a solution to air pollution in mega cities in Asia like China and India.
The World Health Organization revealed air pollution caused seven million premature deaths worldwide in 2012.
In 2012, there were close to 1.7 million premature deaths attributed to household air pollution from coal, wood and biomass powered cooking in Southeast Asia with India shouldering the biggest burden.
Coleman said thirteen of the world’s 20 most polluted cities were in New Delhi, which had an annual average of 153 micrograms of small particulates, while in Beijing vary from 90 to 900 micrograms.
“The major causes of air pollution are well known. Burning coal for power generation and use of gasoline-powered vehicles are key contributors. Natural gas needs to be part of a cleaner air solution.
“Using natural gas compared to coal, produces far less dangerous nitrogen and sulphur oxides. Burning natural gas produces nearly half as much carbon dioxide per unit of energy compared with coal,” Coleman explained.
The recent boom in natural gas production in the US, for instance, contributed to a 3.8% drop in carbon emissions in 2012. For every tonne of greenhouse gas emitted in the production of Australian LNG, Coleman said, at least four tonne of greenhouse gas emission is avoided when LNG is used to displace coal fired power generation.
So, while coal is at face value cheaper than gas, according to Coleman, the full life cycle costs of coal versus natural gas are much greater. “But we know that our place in Asia’s energy mix in the future is not guaranteed. We have to earn it," highlighted Coleman.
“Clearly there is a compelling case for LNG in the mix, especially when it comes to air pollution concerns. India today, only takes about 13 Mtpa of LNG and the Japanese take over 90 Mtpa. You know the populations. One has 1.2 billion people, and the other has just over 127 million people.
“This is an opportunity for us to grab and it’s not one that’s going to wait for us,” he said.
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