Indecent haste to demand a deadline on gas decision

There are still vital issues to consider before any decision is made about a gas processing hub at Prices Point. Woodside’s venture partners indicate that the Browse decision cannot be rushed and that the alternative of processing gas at the North West Shelf facilities at Karratha still needs to be fully examined. With the issuing of a four month deadline by Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson on the venture partners to come up with a decision to choose Prices Point as a condition of lease renewal, the directive speaks of indecent haste. Does this deadline make irrelevant the environmental, heritage and social impacts currently being undertaken?

Martin Ferguson steps in with a deadline

Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson has put the pressure on the warring Kimberley LNG parties by setting a time limit of FOUR MONTHS to settle their differences and choose a development path for the $30 billion Browse Basin gas project. In granting the renewal leases that cover the project's Browse Basin gas fields, Mr Ferguson said that the joint venture partners had to aim for a final investment for the project within three years, as part of the renewal conditions.Woodside Petroleum has been battling the other partners - Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, BHP Billiton and BP for some time as to the best way forward.Woodside opts strongly for Prices Point whereas the other partners are considering the Browse gas to be used when their other gas resources start running out from 2020.
Martin Ferguson has directed that that the joint venture partners spend $1.25 billion in the next two and a half years developing their Browse gas fields through the Prices Point LNG hub.
The government has directed the partners that they have 30 days to accept its conditions of coming up with a concept plan by April 2010 and moving toward a final investment decision by mid-2012.
Woodside has suggested that the first gas could be developed in 2016 or 2017.
Shell has hinted the project could be as much as $50bn.

The future through a 'crystal ball'

When the final decision is made on processing LNG at Prices Point, the week of August (2nd - 7th) 2009 could prove to be very significant. During this time, the Port Authority in Broome negotiated 15 hectares for Woodside to provide a supply base for the Browse Basin gas and Peter Garrett discussed the LNG site at Prices Point with the Traditional owners. Peter Garrett has a long history of rapport with Aboriginal people here in Broome going back to when he performed on the McAlpine PCYC oval over ten years ago.

It seems logical that he would have been very open to the viewpoints presented by the KLC and the Traditional owners who see the LNG project as the window for delivering a range of benefits to the Aboriginal people including housing, health and education.
Peter Garrett will make the final decision in mid 2010 and it is also clear that Martin Ferguson, the Federal Minister for Mines and Energy, is fully supportive of using Prices Point for the LNG hub.

The environmental impact study will not be helped by the widespread bush fires that have once again burnt the vine thickets and surrounding bush in the Prices Point area in early August 2009.

The arrival of Lord McAlpine in the mid 80's marked the start of major development in Broome when the population was less than 5000. If the LNG gas hub is given the green light, we can expect another dramatic impact on Broome and the environment, similar to the outcomes experienced in the Pilbara. The population, housing prices and rents will go through the roof and Broome will take on a much more industrial character.

It's a shame that 'progress' demands that the natural environment which has been untouched for millions of years is sacrificed and what we once enjoyed and loved will be gone forever.

Kimberley whale survey shows highest numbers near proposed LNG hub

An aerial whale survey off the Kimberley coast has recorded the highest population numbers of Humpback Whales in the near vicinity of James Price Point - a site proposed for a massive industrial LNG gas processing facility.

The whale survey conducted on the weekend (29/30 August) with the assistance of Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures and The Wilderness Society recorded a staggering 162 Humpback whales in 102 separate pods between Gourdon Bay in the south to the Lacepede Islands in the north, with the highest concentration recorded in the vicinity of the proposed industrial site at James Price Point. (source - Richard Costin and Environs Kimberley)

What a 'price' to pay!

The 3,500 hectare gas processing plant at James Price Point would need two 125 megawatt power stations, a desalination plant, an airport and a town for 3,500 construction workers, as well as a new port capable of accommodating gas super-tankers at an environmentally sensitive site in the Kimberley.
The industrial site has been proposed for an area previously earmarked by government for a national park. A number of internationally threatened species, including Humpback Whales, endangered Turtles, Dugong, Snub-fin Dolphin and Sawfish would be at risk from the dredging and blasting of reefs and seagrass beds for a new port, as well as from the huge increase in shipping.
The Federal Minister for the Environment will make a decision in mid-2010 about whether or not the gas proposal can go ahead in the Kimberley,’ said Mr Pritchard.
(Excerpts from the press release August 3rd of Martin Pritchard – Environs Kimberley)

The K.L.C. wants action on royalties

The Kimberley Land Council has urged the Venture Partners who are opposed to bringing gas onshore in the Kimberley to resolve their differences concerning the $30 Billion LNG gas project at Prices Point so that the promised $1.5 Billion in benefits such as jobs, housing and health care can be delivered to the Traditional owners. The K.L.C. is also seeking $1 Billion in separate royalties from the Federal Government to raise living standards of the local Aboriginal people. A quick resolution seems unlikely on both issues. (Based on an article by Andrew Burrell in the Financial Review - August 2009)

Piping LNG to the Pilbara or a floating facility

A subsea pipeline to the Pilbara is Woodside Petroleum’s main option for the $30 billion Browse LNG project if it cannot convince its wavering partners to support an onshore plant at James Price Point. Mr Barnett said the government would not grant the necessary approvals, such as pipeline easements, for such a plan to proceed. And though the state government would have no jurisdiction to stop the alternative of a floating LNG facility at Browse, he said the technology was only suitable for smaller LNG projects, such as Shell’s proposed $3 billion Prelude FLNG venture nearby. Nonetheless, Shell and Woodside have in the past identified FLNG technology as a possible option for both the Browse project and the big but remote Sunrise LNG project in the Timor Sea. Mr Barnett said it was time Woodside’s Browse partners – Chevron, Shell, BHP Billiton and BP – accept reality and back the Kimberley hub. Chevron and Shell are understood to be the main parties still unconvinced that the onshore hub is the best option,(Excerpts from WA Business News 30th July 2009)