Beach Energy and ITOCHU corporation have signed an MoU for a proposed LNG facility

The Memorandum of Understanding between Beach and ITOCHU, relating to a proposed LNG facility, has progressed as a result of discussions with the South Australian government and a recent visit to various locations in South Australia. It is intended that this facility would be supplied from Beach’s extensive gas portfolio, which includes both conventional and unconventional gas resources.

Beach has over 1.4 trillion ft³ of gas resources booked in the Cooper Basin and Victoria and is currently pursuing an aggressive shale gas programme in the Cooper Basin to identify further gas reserves. The first of the two planned exploratory shale gas wells, Encounter-1, has consistently realised high gas readings through the target Permian section and is now preparing to cut a second planned core in the Epsilon formation.

The proposed LNG facility and offloading terminal would have a capacity of 1 million tpa. A facility of this scale would require approximately 60 petajoules of gas per annum and depending on location specifics, capital expenditure of approximately AU$ 1 billion. It is intended that the LNG from this facility would be exported into Far-East markets, including Japan.

Beach Managing Director, Reg Nelson, said, “From a revenue perspective, we anticipate this project has the capacity to generate many billions of dollars should a long-term contract be executed. Importantly an opportunity such as this will further accelerate the next phase of the Cooper Basin as one of Australia's major sources of long-term gas supply.”

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/drilling-and-production/26112010/beach-energy-and-itochu-corporation-have-signed-an-mou_for-a_proposed_lng_facility/