Whereas Coleridge lamented the lack of drinking water (“water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink”) for his ancient mariner, Chevron is in a sea of gas but not all of it combustible.
Carbon dioxide is Chevron’s gas problem, hence the well-publicised efforts to find a place for deep injection somewhere close to Australia’s northwest coast, with Barrow Island the preferred address despite it being home to the odd, and apparently very precious, turtle.
It was while reading the latest reports from Chevron that The Slug was struck by three factors: one serious, another intensely amusing, and the third of even greater interest because it’s missing.
The basic news first for anyone slow to catch on. Last week, Chevron said it had hit a big gas reservoir in a structure named Chandon. No size was put on the discovery by the company but outside observers speculated that it could be in the order of 4 trillion cubic feet.
Given that Woodside Petroleum sees the 3.5Tcf in its Pluto field as sufficient to launch a new phase of its North West Shelf project, the theoretical 4Tcf in Chandon is good news indeed.
Of the three factors noted by The Slug, the serious one is the potential size of Chandon and its ability to put even more pressure on the WA Government to tell its environmental agencies to take a running jump and get out of the way of progress.
As politically incorrect as that might sound, it’s about time someone told the faceless, cardigan-wearing brigade, in their pastel-shaded offices on Perth’s St George’s Terrace that the turtles will be more than happy to share a chunk of their beach with the odd pipeline. Horror or horrors, added attention from a big oil and gas development might even make their life a little safer – as the Golden Bandicoots and Burrowing Bettongs have found onshore Barrow.
But if that’s the serious bit, the amusing bit is the name – Chandon. Is it simply The Slug who has noticed the connection between Chandon, as a brand of champagne generally known as Moet & Chandon – and the bubbly bits in a glass of champagne which are nothing but carbon dioxide!
Given that Chevron is run by Yanks who are widely recognised as lacking any sense of humour, The Slug must assume that the Chandon name was an accident – though, if the next well is called Moet there might be a change of mind.
The third factor, missing in action so far, is a measurement of the gas quality. This, given the serious carbon dioxide problems in other Gorgon gas fields, is ultra-critical to the way the world unfolds on Australia’s northwest.
If Chandon is a similar gas mix to other Gorgon fields, then there really will have to be a directive sent to the environmental chaps explaining a few facts of life – of the human variety, not the turtle type.
But if Chandon is as dry as a glass of Moet, and low in carbon dioxide, then many changes, including a possible switch in development focus and a possible expansion of the total Gorgon plan may follow, because you can’t keep discovering 4Tcf fields willy-nilly without the bean-counting taking on a truly global perspective.
The Slug, like the rest of the oil industry, will be watching intently for an analysis of Chandon – and watching even closer to see whether Moet is on the way.
