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Western Gas Secures Strategic Land  For Low Carbon Energy Production

09/01/2023
  • Western Australian Government allocates land in the Ashburton North Strategic Industrial Area to Equus Energy for the development of scalable low carbon ammonia and methanol production.
  • Equus Energy will use regional energy resources of natural gas, solar and wind to deliver value adding downstream industries. 

Western Gas welcomes the announcement today by the Western Australian Government on the allocation of land in the Ashburton North Strategic Industrial Area (ANSIA) to its wholly owned subsidiary Equus Energy (ANSIA) Pty Ltd.

The land allocation will allow Equus Energy to progress plans for a scalable low carbon ammonia and methanol project within the ANSIA, approximately 12 km south of Onslow, Western Australia.

Equus Energy is working with industry leading partners to support engineering design, production technologies and project financing, and will now progress discussions with DevelopmentWA to reach and finalise Key Terms for land tenure within the ANSIA.

Equus Energy will be able to access natural gas feedstock for ammonia and methanol production from Western Gas’ Equus Gas Project, located offshore in the Carnarvon Basin, approximately 200 km northwest of Onslow.

Equus Energy plans to progressively combine renewable energy from solar and wind with the natural gas feedstock, lowering the project’s carbon intensity over time and transitioning towards green fuels production.

Western Gas Executive Director Will Barker said that Equus Energy had been established to help deliver on the company’s vision for the transition to lower carbon energy.

“Securing land within the Ashburton North Strategic Industrial Area is a key step in harnessing the region’s abundant resources of natural gas, solar and wind energy to develop value adding downstream industries.

“The project supports a number of the Government’s strategic initiatives including the establishment of multiproduct green industrial precinct, progressing energy transformation, the diversification of WA’s economy, and ongoing support of regional communities and local jobs.”

EQUUS GAS PROJECT – LNG PROCESSING AGREEMENTS

Western Gas recently signed non-binding milestone agreements with the North West Shelf (NWS) Project participants and Pluto LNG to process up to 3 Mtpa of Equus Gas from its Equus Gas Project for LNG export and the WA market.

These non-binding agreements are significant steps in the commercialisation of the Equus Project, which will support making available 50 to 75 TJ/d for the Western Australian market from 2027 using the existing Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline.

Western Gas has received WA Government support for the Equus development and LNG export using existing infrastructure subject to the application of WA’s 15% Domestic Gas Policy.

ABOUT THE EQUUS GAS PROJECT

The Equus Gas Project is development-ready with more than US$1.8 billion invested since 2007 in exploration, appraisal, and engineering studies.

The low CO2 Equus resource is independently certified 2 Tcf gas and 42 MMbbl condensate (2C), located offshore in Commonwealth waters about 200 km northwest of Onslow in Western Australia.

The Equus resource is ideally sized and situated to provide gas feedstock for the increasingly spare LNG processing capacity in WA’s northwest.

Development of Equus will be phased, with the first phase comprising subsea production wells linked to a Floating Production Storage and Offloading facility (FPSO).

Dry sales gas will be transported via a newly built gas export pipeline to the Pluto A Platform and from there to shore using the existing offshore Pluto trunkline.

Equus gas will then be connected to the existing Pluto LNG Plant and the KGP LNG export infrastructure and the full range of WA domestic gas markets via the existing onshore pipeline infrastructure.

KeyFacts Energy: Western Gas Australia country profile

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