What we do
PROJECT REPORTS
Resources Monitor reports on mining and petroleum projects in Australia.
Projects such as the $500 million Lake Mackay potash project in Western Australia; expansion of the Renison tin mine in Tasmania; the planned Isaac Downs metallurgical coal mine in Queensland; development of a terminal at the former Shell refinery in Geelong in Victoria (now operated by Viva Energy) for the import and conversion into gas of liquefied natural gas; and the conversion of coal into synthetic gas at Leigh Creek in South Australia.
Our reports are used by suppliers, consultants, contractors and others to identify work opportunities and the key people involved in them, in the mining and petroleum sectors in Australia.
Subscriptions are offered on a 12-month basis, for Australia as a whole or for WA + NT or the eastern states alone.
For sample reports and an order form (with prices), see the links above.
Source: Stephen Codrington
Project Notes
GAS: REACHING FOR THE STARS
17 June 2021
Activity in the gas sector is accelerating.
This covers onshore and offshore gas production, processing plants, import terminals, pipelines, power stations and the new field of hydrogen.
Partly underlying this activity is the Federal government’s emphasis on gas as part of its policy to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. It also reflects failure of governments in Victoria and (to an extent) New South Wales to facilitate gas production.
Although production is still a few years away, good onshore prospects include the Narrabri project in New South Wales (Santos) and the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory (with companies working there including Origin Energy, Santos and Pangaea Resources).
Proposals to import liquefied natural gas to convert into gas form were unheard of a few years ago. Now there are a number of such proposals, of which the most advanced are those at Port Kembla in New South Wales (Australian Industrial Energy) and at the Geelong refinery in Victoria (Viva Energy).
Jemena and APA Group plan major extensions of gas-pipeline capacity in the eastern states and Western Australia.
Two gas-fired power plants (to provide peaking power) are at an advanced planning stage in New South Wales: Tallarwarra B (EnergyAustralia) and Kurri Kurri (government financed through Snowy Hydro).
And hydrogen is currently riding a wave of enthusiasm. Fortescue Metals Group chairman, Dr Andrew Forrest, sees it as a "major growth opportunity”. Not all agree: Professor David Mackay, formerly a senior UK energy advisor, described it as “a rather inefficient energy carrier, with a whole bunch of practical defects”.
Whatever the case, governments in Australia and elsewhere are increasingly supporting it.
Proposed LNG import terminal, Port Kembla, showing an an LNG carrier (left) and
adjacent regasification unit (right).
