Origin seeks CSG water use

Origin Energy has called for ideas on ways to optimise the commercial and beneficial uses of water produced and treated at its coal seam gas (CSG) operations in southwest Queensland.

At present, the company processes water on site at its $20 million, 9 ML water treatment facility near Roma, the first fully integrated CSG water treatment facility in Australia.

“We now want to take this project to the next level by looking at different ideas for water use,” said General Manager of Exploration and Production Paul Zealand.

“Possible uses for water from Spring Gully and other sites could include industrial use, agricultural projects or supplementing town supplies.

Presently, the water from Spring Gully undergoes a treatment process where it is purified and desalinated at the on-site reverse osmosis plant.

Mr Zealand said that ideas received by Origin will be collated and assessed and a shortlist of options for commercial and beneficial water use developed.

Origin has recently completed construction of an Australian-first fully integrated Reverse Osmosis water treatment facility as part of its Spring Gully gas project. The purpose of the $20 million plant is to treat and desalinate water extracted from coal seams.

CCS agreement signed

EESTECH and HTC Purenergy have entered into an agreement to explore business opportunities with Santos for carbon capture, storage and enhanced oil recovery using carbon from its own gas fields.

Santos Managing Director David Knox said “This project will build on our current development activities focusing on the Moomba Carbon Storage Project which has the long-term objective of establishing a large-scale carbon storage hub, which could eventually store up to 20 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year and 1 billion tonnes over the life of the project.

He said that this could be achieved by injecting carbon dioxide into the depleted and/or depleting oil and gas reservoirs of the Cooper Basin, thereby providing a secure storage solution for major carbon emitters in Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia, as well as stimulating further gas flow from the field.

In related news, Aviva Corporation and ARC Energy have agreed to a partnership to study the potential for sequestration of carbon dioxide in depleted oil and gas reservoirs in the North Perth Basin.

Initially, ARC Energy will join the existing study – commissioned by Aviva and being conducted by CO2CRC Technologies – which is investigating sequestration sites for future emissions from Aviva’s planned 400 MW Coolimba Power Project (CPP) in the midwest region of Western Australia.

The CPP is a $1 billion, 400 MW coal fired power station 20km south of Eneabba. The geosequestration studies will also examine the use of carbon dioxide to enhance hydrocarbon recoveries from ARC Energy’s mature oil and gas fields.

Government allocates $1 billion for energy R&D

The Minister for Resources and Energy Martin Ferguson has released Energy Research and Development in Australia 2008, a report detailing Australia’s expenditure in energy research and development (R&D).

Minister Ferguson said “While Australia compares favourably against other OECD countries in some research fields, more needs to be done in the areas of applied and experimental energy research.”

The Federal Government has allocated $150 million to the Energy Innovation Fund, $500 million to the Renewable Energy Fund and $500 million to the National Clean Coal Initiative.

“These programs provide incentive for researchers in all sectors to invest in energy R&D. The Australian Government recognises Australia's energy security, economic competitiveness and climate change response will depend on it,” said Mr Ferguson.

Energy R&D represents 6.8 per cent of Australia’s total R&D. Approximately 32 per cent of energy R&D is performed in the service sector. This is influenced by the large (60per cent) business sector energy supply R&D, including activities in the electricity and gas supply companies, carried out in the service sector.