Onshore Oil & Gas
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.
WA to keep gas royalties: Barnett
The West Australian
Peter Kerr and Andrew Probyn
Colin Barnett has warned the Federal Government and the resources sector that WA will refuse to surrender royalties on its massive onshore gas reserves – no matter who wins the Federal election.
According to the US Energy Information Agency, WA’s Canning Basin is Australia’s biggest potential shale region, with as much as 229 trillion cubic feet of gas, more than 11 times the resource to be tapped by the Chevron-led Gorgon LNG project.
2013 WA State Election – where the Parties sit on the environment in the Kimberley
Here’s the Environs Kimberley WA State Election Scorecard
Announcements made since EK published the scorecard.
Liberal Party policies: Kimberley
- Continue to push for a giant gas hub at James Price Point.
- Create one of Australia’s biggest national parks - Wanjina National Park. (NOTE – Liberal Party policy does not prevent mining in National Parks)
- $15million to create a Great Kimberley Marine Park stretching from Talbot Bay to the Northern Territory border.
- The park will cover more than 30,000 square kilometres of the Kimberley’s State waters. It will be second only to the Great Barrier Reef as Australia’s biggest marine park.
- The Liberal-led Government committed $63million for the Kimberley Science and Conservation Strategy, which will create the State’s largest, interconnected system of marine and terrestrial parks.
- Liberals are negotiating with a range of Traditional Owner groups on joint management of these parks.
ALP policies: Kimberley
- Establish the Great North Kimberley Marine Park, extending from King Sound in the west to Cambridge Gulf in the east, to protect about 9000 kms of coastline.
- Establish a 160 square kilometre national park to protect Horizontal Falls.
- Establish the Fitzroy River National Park from the Geikie Gorge National Park along the Fitzroy River to the north and along the Margaret River to the east. (NOTE – Labor Party policy is for no mining in National Parks however in the past land has been excised from National Parks for mining)
- Commence negotiations with the Mitchell Plateau bauxite tenement holders to relinquish their interest and then legislate to ensure the Mitchell Plateau is protected from mining in perpetuity.
- WA Labor will also allocate $4million over four years to employ 10 indigenous rangers to help manage the new Fitzroy River National Park.
- Not support uranium mining in the Kimberley
- Will not support Coal Seam Gas fracking (NOTE – most onshore gas in the Kimberley is shale gas)
Greens policies: Kimberley
- No gas hub at James Price Point.
- Create Great Kimberley Marine Park.
- Prevent fracking and coal mining in the Canning Basin/Fitzroy River catchment.
- Not support uranium mining in the Kimberley.
- Not allow new dams in the Kimberley.
- Develop sustainable economic futures for the region and redirect ‘Royalties for Regions’ funds away from mining subsidies to communities.
Nationals policies: Kimberley
- No environmental policy announcements made.
To hear from the candidates go to ABC Kimberley’s podcast of the candidate forum http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/03/07/3710547.htm?site=kimberley
Buru Energy ‘bulldozed Aboriginal site’
The West Australian
Flip Prior
Kimberley Aboriginal leader Wayne Bergmann has demanded Buru Energy halt works at its Ungani oilfield operations in the Canning Basin, claiming the company had bulldozed a significant Aboriginal site without permission and damaged artefacts tens of thousands of years old.
Mr Bergmann has lodged a complaint with the Department of Indigenous Affairs, which has said it is investigating the matter.
Test production of oil began at Ungani, about 100km east of Broome, earlier this year, in the first commercial onshore production in the region since the Blina oilfield started up in 1983.
Barnett keen for Kimberley high-rise
ABC
The Western Australian Premier says he hopes to see high-rise style developments in Broome similar to those underway in towns in the Pilbara.
Colin Barnett flew out of Broome on Saturday after spending several days in the Kimberley.
Asked about the potential for Broome to be developed into a major city, he said he would not expect the town to grow beyond about 50,000 people.