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Gorgon Project Stimulating Marine Transportation Industry

June 12, 2012

Trillions of cubic feet of natural gas have been discovered off the North West coast of Australia. These monumental findings have led to the organization of the Gorgon Project which is the largest single resource project in Australia’s history, that is not only creating jobs and capital in Australia, but it is also stimulating growth in related industries across the globe, such as the international marine transportation industry. Marine transportation companies’ that specialize in shipping all types of cargo worldwide have been in high demand, shipping heavy equipment, industrial machinery, fleets of ocean tugs, harbor tugs, barges, crew boats, and landing crafts to the project site located off the Australian coastline.

The project, which is one of the world’s largest natural gas projects, involves the development of gas fields, subsea gas-gathering infrastructure, and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant. It also includes a domestic gas component, which includes the construction of major pipelining and an LNG train road and rail through the mainland. The West Australian Petroleum Industry (WAPET), who was acquired by Chevron in 2000, has been drilling gas fields on the NW coast of Australia for the past 35 years, and is responsible for the ‘Greater Gorgon,’ discoveries. This term ‘Greater Gorgon' refers to a grouping of several gas fields uncovered by WAPET including Gorgon, Chandon, Geryon, Orthrus, Maenad, Eurytion, Urania, Chrysaor, Dionysus, Jansz/Io, and West Tryal Rocks. The Gorgon fields (located on Barrow Island and discovered in 1981) and the Janz/Io fields (discovered in 2000) are known to have the most LNG and account for the majority of the total 35.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that was found. It is also predicted that the supply may have a lifespan of a long as 60 years. Experts are suggesting that this finding is expected to have a major long-term positive impact on the worldwide energy crisis as well as the environment. Not to mention that it is estimated to create nearly 40,000 new jobs worldwide throughout its duration.

Although the costs of major energy projects is generally not discussed by developers, media sources have revealed that the estimated costs ranging from $11 billion (in 2003), $16 billion (in 2007), $50 billion (in 2009) to $43 billion (in 2009). And which companies are fitting that major bill? The project is lead by Chevron Australia, but ExxonMobil, Shell, Osaka Gas, Tokyo Gas and Chubu Electric Power are also working on the milestone project. “Gorgon redefines what technically complex, environmentally responsible projects will look like,” says Chevron Executive Vice President, Global Upstream and Gas George Kirkland. “The project is big and it’s also coming at the right time, but Gorgon’s destined to become an iconic project for generations to come.”

With a project of this size, capacity, and historical significance, the energy companies that are funding it need to be sure they have everything they need to carry out such a large development with high efficiency and results. Being that such a large amount of natural gas is being extracted and will be for decades to come, mostly in off-shore locations such as the Gorgon and Janz/Io fields, the role of the marine transportation industry is key to the projects overall success.

Written By: Admin

OCEAN TRADE LINES

[Sources: chevron.com, mma.com.au]

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