“DOUBTS have emerged over whether the giant $50 billion Gorgon gas project can safely bury its greenhouse gas emissions deep beneath the Barrow Island nature reserve off Western Australia, despite the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, backing the plan.
Technical experts working with Gorgon's developers, Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil, found it was possible that carbon dioxide could leak from faults in the geological formation under the island which is supposed to act as the burial site. Their findings were disclosed in the developers' response to complaints from the Conservation Council of WA, which argued the plan to bury the gases was highly risky.
The environmental review produced by the Gorgon partners notes a ''significant area of difference'' between it and the expert panel over the the risk of a leak.”
The EPA said in its final report on the project that if the carbon burial plan proved technically impracticable and did not go ahead ''the decision to permit gas processing on Barrow Island nature reserve should be reconsidered''. --------------------------------
Problems with Gorgon gas emissions come on top of the oil and gas spill from the West Atlas offshore drilling rig, located 250km off the Kimberley coast in Western Australia.
The spill control plan for West Atlas has now gone to Canberra; the rig contractor PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) said it had submitted its action plan to the Federal Government. To control the well, the company is planning to drill a relief well which will intersect the existing well and stop its oil and gas flow, a process which could take two months.
The spill has predictably drawn fierce criticism from green groups & parliamentarians such as Bob Brown. Referring to the proposed $50 billion Gorgon gas development Brown said "Martin Ferguson says there's no way there'll be environmental problems with Gorgon. Well, it's much bigger [than the West Atlas] and of course this makes his assertion about the massive Gorgon development laughable." "Clearly, spills like this will occur where there is drilling for oil and gas, and they're an enormous environmental hazard, even though at the end of the day, companies pay zip for the environmental damage that's done." ---------------------------------
Comment….. Obviously this massive project will go ahead, despite anticipated problems and others not anticipated. But it will not be all the successful development trumpeted by the Federal Resources Minister and others last week.
Environmental considerations and problems with this deep water project will bring delays and cost overruns, some of which could be considerable.
Will this give an advantage to those LNG onshore projects, such as those planned for Eastern Australia?
