WAPET

West Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd ( WAPET ) was the first company in Australia, which successfully operated the exploration of mineral deposits and petroleum promoted in Western Australia. The company was founded as a joint venture between Caltex and Ampol in 1952, this entrepreneur discovered the first economically viable oil well in Australia in 1953. WAPET was bought in February 2000 by Chevron Australia Pty Ltd, the Australian subsidiary of one of the largest oil companies in the world.

History

As WAPET in November 1953 on the Rough Range on the North West Cape in Western Australia discovered an oil well, this was the first source, which provided an economically usable volume in the oil. This was not the first oil well was discovered in Australia, as this was discovered on Lake Entrance in Victoria in 1924, but did not provide any usable amount of oil. The bore in the Rough Range yielding about 400 barrels of oil a day, which was funded from a depth of 1099 meters. An additional bore 1954 showed, however, that the amount of oil had a too small volume, in order to continue to drive the oil well economically.

In 1964 WAPET discovered the first natural gas field in Dongara in Western Australia in Perth basin, which provided an economically sufficient volume of natural gas. The Dongara gas field is owned by the Australian company Arc Energy and provided a yield of 12.673.556.000 m³ LNG ( liquefied natural gas ) until August 2007.

The discovery of natural gas in Dongara led to the construction of the first gas pipeline in 1971 in Western Australia, from Dongara after Pinjarra, built by the West Australian Natural Gas ( WANG ), a subsidiary of WAPET. This pipeline is also known as the Parmelia Pipeline, which is 416 km long and has a pipe diameter of 350 mm.

WAPET was taken by the Dutch oil giant Shell Australia as a partner in 1964 and shortly thereafter discovered WAPET 1964, the major oil deposits on Barrow Iceland. This was done, although the Australian government had imposed a ban on drilling and exploitation of mineral deposits about this area because they feared radioactive radiation exposure due to the nuclear tests of 1952, the operation hurricanes on the nearby Monte Bello Islands. This ban was lifted in 1953 and WAPET received the exploitation permit from the government. The bore Barrow -1 delivered in economically recoverable oil volume and it was a major discovery of oil in Australia. After an investment in oil production of $ 100 million this oil deposit was exploited from the year 1967. Already in 1966 the incidence was up to a usable volume of 85 million barrels ( 13,500,000 m³) and after the start of oil production in April 1967, the estimate of 250 million barrels was lifted ( 40,000,000 m³). In 1995, there were 430 sources that promoted oil and natural gas, most of them lay on the southern half of the island. During this period, this region was considered the largest oil production area in Australia.

The discovery of oil on Barrow Iceland and other deposits resulted in the late 1960s and in the 1970s an intensive geological survey of Carnarvonbeckens by Australian and U.S. oil companies. WAPET discovered on the West Tryal Rocks another significant natural gas reserves in 1972 and 1980, the Gorgon gas fields. This region and this occurrence was utilized as Greater Gorgon known and in the coming years as the Gorgon Gas Project by the oil company Chevron, the transferee of WAPET. The presence of LNG in the gas field of the Greater Gorgon is estimated at ( 1100 km ³).