Big Cuts Urged in Aviation Growth
Silly Old Git
They just need to bung a hole in the Timor sea bed and hey presto gas!
Wonder if Darwhine power station will ever get a whiff of this lot before its all carted off to China for use in the manufacture of useful plastic ****.
Santos's Timor Sea gas discovery
Andrew Trounson
30sep05
SANTOS and US oil major ConocoPhillips yesterday reported a "significant" new gas discovery in the Timor Sea that could open the way for a doubling in size of the $US1.5 billion ($2 billion) Darwin liquefied natural gas plant now nearing completion.
News of the Caldita-1 drill success some 265km north-northwest of Darwin, combined with a rise in oil prices, sent Santos shares up 6.8 per cent, adding about $400 million to the value of the stock.
Santos closed at $12.25, up 68c, after earlier hitting a record high of $12.47.
Drilled in 137 metres of water and to a depth of more than 4km, the Caldita-1 well has flowed natural gas at a rate of 33 million cubic feet per day. The flow rate could have been higher but was constrained by limited available surface equipment.
The flow rate raised hopes that Santos and ConocoPhillips could realise their pre-drill target of a discovery of more than 1.5 trillion cubic feet of gas.
However, the market has been left short on detail with no indication yet of the size of the gas column or whether the gas is contaminated by high carbon dioxide levels that are common in the area.
"If the gas is clean enough and the resource large enough to trigger an LNG expansion then it will be very valuable," Morgan Stanley oil and gas analyst Stuart Baker said.
Piping the gas into an expanded Darwin plant would be the most obvious development option but depending on the quality of the gas the partners would probably need close to 3 trillion cubic feet or more to support a second LNG processing train at Wickham Point.
Wickham Point is designed to take in gas from the ConocoPhillips and Santos Bayu Udan development 390km to the west of Caldita. Bayu-Undan has 3.4 trillion cubic feet of gas, all of which is needed to underwrite the 3.5 million tonne a year LNG plant.
ConocoPhillips farmed into the Caldita-1 exploration permit area in July last year, earning a 60 per cent stake by financing the drilling, and leaving Santos with 40 per cent. The two reached an understanding that they could use the existing Bayu-Undan/Wickham Point infrastructure if Caldita proved commercial.
Santos is a junior partner in Bayu Undan/Wickham with a 10.6 per cent stake, but now stands to have a much bigger slice of any expansion based on Caldita.
"This is an encouraging result and further evaluation will be carried out to assess the appraisal and development potential of Caldita and nearby resources," Santos chief executive John Ellice-Flint said.
But further appraisal work will probably have to wait until next year. The Caldita drill rig is now due to head off and drill the Firebird well near Bayu Undan.
Any development of Caldita would need an offshore facility to process the gas before piping it ashore, since the Bayu Undan facilities are too far away
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...764726,00.html
Wonder if Darwhine power station will ever get a whiff of this lot before its all carted off to China for use in the manufacture of useful plastic ****.
Santos's Timor Sea gas discovery
Andrew Trounson
30sep05
SANTOS and US oil major ConocoPhillips yesterday reported a "significant" new gas discovery in the Timor Sea that could open the way for a doubling in size of the $US1.5 billion ($2 billion) Darwin liquefied natural gas plant now nearing completion.
News of the Caldita-1 drill success some 265km north-northwest of Darwin, combined with a rise in oil prices, sent Santos shares up 6.8 per cent, adding about $400 million to the value of the stock.
Santos closed at $12.25, up 68c, after earlier hitting a record high of $12.47.
Drilled in 137 metres of water and to a depth of more than 4km, the Caldita-1 well has flowed natural gas at a rate of 33 million cubic feet per day. The flow rate could have been higher but was constrained by limited available surface equipment.
The flow rate raised hopes that Santos and ConocoPhillips could realise their pre-drill target of a discovery of more than 1.5 trillion cubic feet of gas.
However, the market has been left short on detail with no indication yet of the size of the gas column or whether the gas is contaminated by high carbon dioxide levels that are common in the area.
"If the gas is clean enough and the resource large enough to trigger an LNG expansion then it will be very valuable," Morgan Stanley oil and gas analyst Stuart Baker said.
Piping the gas into an expanded Darwin plant would be the most obvious development option but depending on the quality of the gas the partners would probably need close to 3 trillion cubic feet or more to support a second LNG processing train at Wickham Point.
Wickham Point is designed to take in gas from the ConocoPhillips and Santos Bayu Udan development 390km to the west of Caldita. Bayu-Undan has 3.4 trillion cubic feet of gas, all of which is needed to underwrite the 3.5 million tonne a year LNG plant.
ConocoPhillips farmed into the Caldita-1 exploration permit area in July last year, earning a 60 per cent stake by financing the drilling, and leaving Santos with 40 per cent. The two reached an understanding that they could use the existing Bayu-Undan/Wickham Point infrastructure if Caldita proved commercial.
Santos is a junior partner in Bayu Undan/Wickham with a 10.6 per cent stake, but now stands to have a much bigger slice of any expansion based on Caldita.
"This is an encouraging result and further evaluation will be carried out to assess the appraisal and development potential of Caldita and nearby resources," Santos chief executive John Ellice-Flint said.
But further appraisal work will probably have to wait until next year. The Caldita drill rig is now due to head off and drill the Firebird well near Bayu Undan.
Any development of Caldita would need an offshore facility to process the gas before piping it ashore, since the Bayu Undan facilities are too far away
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...764726,00.html
Don Quixote Impersonator
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Australia
Age: 77
Posts: 3,403
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Heres an alternative view but the message is the same, we ain't got any not even one little, to waste.
Flight Intl again 11-17 Oct 2005
Flight Intl again 11-17 Oct 2005
Aviation urged to press fuel claim
Consultant calls on automobile industry to become more energy effcient to safeguard oil stocks for aircraft
The air transport industry must put pressure on automotive manufacturers to introduce fuel-efficient road vehicles to ensure security of fuel supply for air transport, says a report by consultancy Meridian International Research.
While the air transport industry is the most sensitive to rising oil prices, technology to allow it to drastically reduce fossil fuel consumption is not yet developed. However, fuel-efficient motor vehicle technologies are much more advanced, and in some cases are already being introduced.
“The air transport industry cannot easily reduce oil consumption – except by grounding aircraft. Air transport is too important to the functioning of the world to allow that,” says William Tahil, research director at Meridian, an independent strategy research and technology consultancy based in France.
The introduction of plug-in hybrid and battery-powered electric road vehicles would take the pressure off fossil-fuel supplies and allow time for biojet fuel to become a feasible option to replace part of the 230 billion litres of jet fuel that are burned worldwide each year, the report says.
Developments in technology allowing biodiesel fuel to be used in aircraft will cut the use of fossil fuels in air transport in the longer term, Tahil says.
But the logistics of growing enough biofuel crops and the advances in technology needed to use biofuels in aviation mean this is a longer-term option: “The resources are there. If they are put into place they could replace significant amounts of jet fuel over the next 10-20 years, but what is needed is the recognition that they must be put into place.”
But airlines need to take a holistic approach, and industry bodies like the International Air Transport Association should put pressure on motor manufacturing associations and manufacturers themselves to cut fuel consumption, according to Tahil: “Our economic future depends on oil prices coming down to reasonable levels – the air transport sector is vital to the smooth functioning of global industry.”
HELEN MASSY-BERESFORD/LONDON
The International Air Transport Association’s chief economist Brian Pearce predicts that as clean coal, renewable and hydrogen power generation technologies gain ground, oil demand will fall in the long-term. “That will leave plenty of oil left to refine jet fuel until the next aircraft fuel comes along. Meanwhile, the industry will continue improving fuel efficiency and investing R&D into alternative energy sources,” he says.
The “peak oil” theory – that oil production will reach a peak and then decline, with the peak year known only once it has passed – is “a serious issue”, Pearce says. “However, even if no additional oil reserves are discovered, at current rates of consumption there are 40 years of oil left, which should give the world time to develop new energy sources.
Consultant calls on automobile industry to become more energy effcient to safeguard oil stocks for aircraft
The air transport industry must put pressure on automotive manufacturers to introduce fuel-efficient road vehicles to ensure security of fuel supply for air transport, says a report by consultancy Meridian International Research.
While the air transport industry is the most sensitive to rising oil prices, technology to allow it to drastically reduce fossil fuel consumption is not yet developed. However, fuel-efficient motor vehicle technologies are much more advanced, and in some cases are already being introduced.
“The air transport industry cannot easily reduce oil consumption – except by grounding aircraft. Air transport is too important to the functioning of the world to allow that,” says William Tahil, research director at Meridian, an independent strategy research and technology consultancy based in France.
The introduction of plug-in hybrid and battery-powered electric road vehicles would take the pressure off fossil-fuel supplies and allow time for biojet fuel to become a feasible option to replace part of the 230 billion litres of jet fuel that are burned worldwide each year, the report says.
Developments in technology allowing biodiesel fuel to be used in aircraft will cut the use of fossil fuels in air transport in the longer term, Tahil says.
But the logistics of growing enough biofuel crops and the advances in technology needed to use biofuels in aviation mean this is a longer-term option: “The resources are there. If they are put into place they could replace significant amounts of jet fuel over the next 10-20 years, but what is needed is the recognition that they must be put into place.”
But airlines need to take a holistic approach, and industry bodies like the International Air Transport Association should put pressure on motor manufacturing associations and manufacturers themselves to cut fuel consumption, according to Tahil: “Our economic future depends on oil prices coming down to reasonable levels – the air transport sector is vital to the smooth functioning of global industry.”
HELEN MASSY-BERESFORD/LONDON
The International Air Transport Association’s chief economist Brian Pearce predicts that as clean coal, renewable and hydrogen power generation technologies gain ground, oil demand will fall in the long-term. “That will leave plenty of oil left to refine jet fuel until the next aircraft fuel comes along. Meanwhile, the industry will continue improving fuel efficiency and investing R&D into alternative energy sources,” he says.
The “peak oil” theory – that oil production will reach a peak and then decline, with the peak year known only once it has passed – is “a serious issue”, Pearce says. “However, even if no additional oil reserves are discovered, at current rates of consumption there are 40 years of oil left, which should give the world time to develop new energy sources.
