National Heritage
Premier Colin Barnett disappointed by protestor’s snub
News.com.au
WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett says he is “disappointed” Kimberley gas hub protesters have cancelled a meeting with him despite pushing the idea during the recent election campaign.
In January, Broome residents urged the premier to attend an open community forum to discuss the social impacts of Woodside Petroleum’s proposed gas hub at James Price Point.
Buru seeks approvals for new round of fracking in the Kimberley
ABC
Ben Collins
Buru Energy is planning to use the controversial process of fracking in five gas wells between Broome and Derby,
Fracking the Canning Basin
Indymedia Australia
Gerry Georgatos – Western Australia’s Canning Basin (photo abc.net.au) will soon be talked about as the next resources mining frontier. The James Price Point $40 billion gas hub proposal for all intents and purposes has been dumped but the State’s Premier, Colin Barnett, will pitch the extraction of natural gas from the Canning Basin as the way to go in the pursuit of State revenue. Most of the gas will be exported.
The shale gas deposits of the Canning Basin are among the richest in the world.
On Tuesday, Premier Barnett introduced a Parliamentary Bill seeking to develop the vast Canning resource. The Bill will formalise the agreement between the Government and the venture partners Buru Energy and Mitsubishi Corporation.
Buru rules out Ungani fracking
ABC
Oil and gas company Buru Energy says it has no plans to conduct fracking at a particular site east of Broome but says it cannot rule out using the controversial practice elsewhere in the Canning Basin in the future.
Buru Energy’s executive director Eric Streitberg says the company will never involve any hydraulic fracture stimulation, or fracking, at its Ungani or Ungani North sites, about 100 kilometres east of Broome.
Deal over vast gas reserves in Canning basin
ABC
Kathryn Diss
The State Government has introduced a bill into Parliament to ratify an agreement to develop vast gas reserves in the Canning Basin, in the remote Kimberley.
The Premier Colin Barnett told Parliament the bill will ratify a natural gas deal signed between the Government and gas explorer, Buru Energy.
Buru Energy is exploring in the basin backed by Japanese giant, Mitsubishi Corporation.
Canning Superbasin looms as next frontier for gas production
Herald Sun
Amy Wilson-Chapman
PREMIER Colin Barnett’s gas ambitions have switched from the offshore Browse Basin to the onshore Canning Basin.
Still smarting from the decision of Woodside and its joint-venture partners to dump the Premier’s grand plan for a onshore processing precinct at James Price Point on the Kimberley coastline for Browse gas, the WA Government is moving full steam ahead to exploit the shale gas riches in the Canning Basin.
Mr Barnett yesterday introduced a Bill into State Parliament that will ratify an agreement to develop the vast onshore Canning resource, which covers more than 530,000sqm across the Kimberley.
Cousins floats new threat to Woodside
The Australian
PAUL GARVEY
PROMINENT businessman turned environmental activist Geoffrey Cousins has re-emerged as a potential roadblock for Woodside Petroleum and its partners in the multi-billion-dollar Browse liquefied natural gas project off northern Western Australia.
Woodside yesterday added further momentum to plans to exploit the vast but remote Browse gas fields through groundbreaking floating LNG technology, signing a deal with project partner Royal Dutch Shell to investigate the economics of using Shell’s FLNG process.
But Mr Cousins, who has been a strong advocate for the development of Browse through FLNG due to its smaller environmental footprint, yesterday called for the project partners and the WA government to deliver on their economic promises made to Kimberley indigenous groups despite the increased likelihood that the Browse development will remain offshore.
James Price Point acquisition likely
Sky News
There are three reasons West Australian Premier Colin Barnett wants to push ahead with acquiring land at James Price Point despite Woodside shelving its original plan for the Browse gas project.
Mr Barnett said the Kimberley land had been valued at $30 million by the state’s Valuer General, an amount the WA government would pay to traditional owners if it decided to proceed with the acquisition.
That was likely, he confirmed on ABC Radio on Wednesday.
Government urged to abandon gas land acquisition
ABC News
Erin Parke
The West Australian Government is being urged to abandon its plan to take over land north of Broome that was set aside for the Kimberleygas hub.
The land agreement between Aboriginal families and the Government means the state retains control of the land at James Price Point for at least ten years despite Woodside pulling the pin on the gas precinct last week.
The Premier’s office has confirmed it is also persevering with plans to compulsorily acquire the site.
Comment: What now for Browse Basin gas?
SBS World News Australia
THE CONVERSATION
By Susan Gourvenec, University of Western Australia
Woodside’s announcement that it would no longer be developing a gas processing plant at James Price Point in Western Australia is by no means the death knell for gas development in the Browse Basin, writes Susan Gourvenec from the University of Western Australia.
Last Friday, Woodside announced it would no longer be developing a gas processing plant at James Price Point in Western Australia. The announcement was greeted with enthusiasm by environmental groups. But this is by no means the death knell for gas development in the Browse Basin.