for mermaid marine australia holders

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Note that Mermaid Marine Australia are involved in the Pyrenees Field Project


BHP starts oil production at Australia Pyrenees field | PERTH, March 1 (Reuters) - BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP.AX)(BLT.L), Australia's
largest oil and gas producer, has started oil production on schedule from its
A$1.7 billion ($1.07 billion) Pyrenees project, off western Australia, it said
on Monday.

The project has production capacity of about 96,000 barrels of oil per day,
while the 60 million cubic feet of gas produced per day will be reinjected into
the reservoir of the nearby Macedon gas field for future recovery, BHP said in a
statement.
BHP has previously estimated that the field would start production in the first
half of 2010.
BHP owns a 71.43 percent stake in the field and is the operator, while
U.S.-based Apache Energy (APA.N) holds the remaining stake.
BHP is targeting its petroleum unit, which accounts for between 20-25 percent of
the firm's total earnings, to post double-digit volume growth for the next four
to five years. (Reporting by Fayen Wong; Editing by Balazs Koranyi)



Gas will drive coal from its throne MATHEW MURPHY
March 3, 2010
STRONG export demand will result in the nation's energy production nearly
doubling by 2030, but Australia is set to consume far less coal and much more
gas, to a federal government report says.
The Australian Energy Resource Assessment, compiled by the Australian Bureau of
Agricultural and Resource Economics and Geoscience Australia, provides the first
comprehensive audit of Australia's energy resources.
The 344-page report shows Australia's primary energy consumption will increase
by 1.4 per cent each year to reach about 7715 petajoules by 2029-30, from
2007-08 levels of 5772 petajoules. Coal accounts for almost 40 per cent of the
total, followed by oil (almost 34 per cent), gas (almost 22 per cent) and
renewables (about 5 per cent, mostly from bioenergy).
The report says that by 2030 coal will provide only about 23 per cent of the
energy Australia consumes. Gas will be the replacement fuel. The government is
predicting gas's share of the market will grow from 22 per cent to 34 per cent
by 2030. Wind energy is expected to be the fastest-growing energy source,
assisted by policy measures such as the government's renewable energy target.
''Australia's energy demand will continue to rise over the period to 2030, but
the rate of growth is expected to continue to slow,'' the report says. ''This
reflects the long-term trend in the Australian economy towards less
energy-intensive sectors and energy-efficiency improvements, both of which can
be expected to be reinforced by policy responses to climate change. The
contribution of gas and renewables is expected to increase significantly.''
Australia, which accounts for about 2.4 per cent of the world's energy
production, is the world's ninth-largest energy producer. It exports more than
three-quarters of its energy output.
Its energy production in 2007-08 was 17,360 petajoules, comprised mainly of coal
(54 per cent), uranium (27 per cent), gas (11 per cent) and renewables (2 per
cent). Although the country's energy production in 2029-30 is projected to reach
35,057 petajoules, coal's share of that total will slip to about 40 per cent.
The Resources and Energy Minister, Martin Ferguson, said the future looked
bright for Australia's gas projects but declining oil production would test the
transport sector.
"The two big findings are the extraordinary potential of coal seam methane and
unconventional gas resources, and for the first time we can see just how
extensive Australia's renewable energy resources are,'' he said. "The assessment
shows our coal and gas resources can support energy demand for many decades
But, with almost every sector of the Australian economy dependent on oil as the
major transport fuel, dependence [on oil imports] is likely to increase if we
don't find more oil resources or alternatives."