2008 Western Australian gas crisis

The gas crisis in Western Australia was established on 3 June 2008 broke as a natural gas pipeline on the Varanus Island in Western Australia and the gas processing plant on the island was then largely destroyed by a fire and had to be switched off. As a result, missing a third of the volume of gas in Western Australia and led to a gas supply crisis, especially the energy consuming metal production industry, which could be finished in December 2008.

Facilities

Since 1996 located on the 83 acre Varanus Island, off the coast of Lowendal archipelago located about 70 km, five gas liquefaction plants. From the natural gas that is delivered from the production platforms of Harriet, East Spar and John Brookes gas field in Lowendal Archipelago, are water and especially sulfur compounds and carbon dioxide deposited in large industrial plants. The resulting liquefied natural gas is supplied in two undersea pipelines to the mainland, where it is distributed into two pipelines, in the Gold Field Gas Pipeline and the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline.

The facilities on the island were approved by the Petroleum Pipelines Act 1969 in Western Australia and the safety and occupational health and safety regulations are subject to the Department of Mines and Petroleum ( DMP) in whose area of ​​responsibility the National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority, an Australian authority, control functions exercised and reports produced.

It is also promoted oil to a lesser extent than natural gas in Lowendal Archipelago.

Explosion

As a gas pipeline in the transition between coastal waters and gas liquefaction plant broke, there was an explosion that ignited the plant and heavily damaged. Within no time at all about 152 employees have been brought to the small island in safety; no one was injured. The fire destroyed the plant, which was then switched off and this led to a reduction in the supply of LNG from Western Australia by 35%. The operator of the plant, Apache Energy, the Australian subsidiary of Apache Corporation of Houston, announced that it would take until the restart of the plants a few months.

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Gas supply

The plants on the Varanus Island produce 365 terajoules liquefied natural gas per day, or about 6 % of the liquefied gas of the entire Australian market. The liquid gas produced was sold mainly to the heavy industry and a small part to power generators. The Varanus systems serve more than 20 large industrial customers, including large international corporations BHP Billiton Ltd. , Rio Tinto Group. , Iluka Resources Ltd. , Newmont Mining Corp.. and Barrick Gold Corp. .. For months, took over the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline additional gas supplies in the south west of Western Australia to secure the industrial production.

Just one day after the explosion Apache Energy announced that it was the cause of the explosion is known, and on June 13 began the initial work with the dismantling of damaged parts of the plant. On 6 August, after two months, the production ran with a volume of 120 terajoules day again. In mid-October flowed two-thirds of the previous capacity, and then 85 % and finally in December 2008, again 100 %.

Economy

80 to 90 % of the liquefied natural gas from Varanus Island to be used by industry and the residual amount of electrical energy. The consequences of the failure of gas supplies related primarily to the energy-intensive Australian metal production of iron, gold and nickel. The companies concerned were initially production figures do not hold, however, no off work because of the gas crisis from. They avoided on alternative energy, especially on diesel and other gas suppliers. This meant higher effort and cost. Some companies stated that they will take Apache Energy in liability if it would be found that this was liable for the loss of energy.

Alternatively, the e- works that are powered by gas can also generate with diesel power and although the scope of gas supplies from Varanus Island to gas-powered electricity companies for industrial customers was low, the Muja Power fell out of station that generated by gas flow. The work went again until 23 June 2008 to the network. An e- business at Kwinana, which generates electricity with coal, was decommissioned and was returned to service because of the situation and went on 8 July 2008 to the network.

A study of 301 member companies of Industry and Commerce on June 18, came to the conclusion that perhaps 601 employees will be affected by the minimized gas supply and that 50% of entrepreneurs interviewed expressed that they were affected and 11 indicated that they had ceased operations because of the gas crisis.

Households were not directly affected by the shortage of supply because they were not supplied with gas from the Varanus Island. However, due to the gas crisis, it came to gas price increases for households.

Policy

The Premier of Western Australia, Alan Carpenter said on 8 June that the energy loss due to gas from other suppliers and coal -fired electricity companies, which are switched back to the grid, can be compensated. He also called in a television and broadcast on to the fact that households should scale back their gas consumption, so that the industry could be better supplied. Carpenter feared that the gas crisis would go even deeper and that they have an impact on the business and the level of employment. The secretary of the union of Western Australia has warned that workers in the mining, timber and food industries as well as in the service and transport industry could be released.

On 18 June, the then Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced that Carpenter had a coordination group for gas supplies with government agencies and with industry representatives used to solve the energy crisis, and he rejected the Royal Australian Navy at, diesel deliveries to Western Australia from the naval base on Garden Iceland perform, if there would be shortages. He also commissioned the Minister for Resources and Energy Martin Ferguson with the production and the transport control of oil and natural gas to resolve the crisis.

Investigations

The incident investigated three commissions, the Technical Commission of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority ( Nopsa ), a commission of the West Australian Senate and another of the Commonwealth of Australia.

The Nopsa came to the conclusion that the rupture of the pipeline was caused by corrosion because of an ineffective anti- corrosion protection existed, the sacrificial anodes at the fracture site has not been properly maintained and there was a lack of inspection and maintenance in transition in the coastal area in the dry-wet transition zone.

The commission and the opposition parties criticized to be taken by the Western Australian Labor government gas plan in 2006 and in the spring of 2008 contained no alternative supply planning for incidents despite gas pipeline breaks. This commission also announced that the gas crisis for the state of Western Australia minus the gross national product of OFF meant $ 2 bln. "

The commissioned by the Commonwealth Commission of Inquiry took on the task of examining the relationship between the Department of Industry and Resources and the Nopsa on the gas liquefaction plant on the Varanus Island and to provide the relevant ministries available to draw conclusions.