Chevron Calls for Shared Pipeline offshore Western Australia

US multinational Chevron has called for a multi-user, open access gas pipeline offshore Western Australia in order to create efficiencies through a more “interconnected basin” and ensure resources are brought on stream to fill available LNG and domestic gas processing capacity.

Chevron Australia managing director Nigel Hearne said May 15 at the APPEA conference in Adelaide that a trans Carnarvon Basin trunkline, or “TCT”, could link remote areas such as Scarborough, Thebe and the Exmouth fields to existing gas facilities such as the North-West Shelf, Pluto and Wheatstone.

“Combining this with existing pipelines to shore that interconnect with the Dampier Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline, the opportunities for system optimisation and value creation are mind boggling,” he said.

While infrastructure collaboration is not common in Australia, he noted global examples such as the “Forties” pipeline in the North Sea, the Basin Wide Transportation and Transhipment System in Canada, and the collaboration between companies, communities and governments seen during the US shale gas “revolution”.

“It will mean putting aside individual interests and collaborating to create additional value across a basin-wide system – to make the pie bigger, not just take a bigger slice of a smaller pie,” he said.