Australian Armour to get Access to APA Pipeline

Australian Armour Energy has signed a connection agreement with APA Group, which will give the former access to the Roma Brisbane pipeline at Wallumbilla. It will allow Armour to supply gas to Australia Pacific LNG under the previously announced gas sales agreement with them.   

The agreement is also an essential component in Armour being able to access the broader east coast gas market, the company said March 6. “Late last year we announced that we had secured a gas sales agreement with Australia Pacific LNG.  Execution of the connection agreement with APA now means that we can commence supply of gas to Australia Pacific LNG as soon as the Kincora project restart is completed,” Armour’s executive chairman, Nick Mather said.

Supply of gas from the Kincora project has been planned in two phases. Phase one is expected to see the restart of gas production, commissioning and then increase production rate to 9 TJ/d (3.3 PJ/yr) with production initially from the Newstead storage facility and then various wells across the fields that were last in operation. First gas production and commencement of gas sales is targeted to be achieved by June 2017, and the balance of the restart program is planned to be completed by August/September 2017.

Phase two will involve the drilling of new wells plus workovers and stimulations of existing wells to achieve an increase in gas production to 20 TJ/d over a period of 12 to 18 months from first gas production.

A key component of Armour’s gas supply strategy for the Australia Pacific LNG offtake arrangements and, going forward, for other customers is the Newstead gas storage facility. The facility currently holds about 2.3 PJ of treated gas which is expected to require minimal re-processing.