Times & MAFF FR RA R A SPECTA CTATOR OR
74 Macalister Street, Sale WEATHER
TUESDAY, 17 SEPTEMBER, 2024
Tuesday Mostlycloudy sunny--Min: Min:64 Max: Max:16 14 Tuesday Partly
www.gippslandtimes.com.au
Wednesday Possible shower Max: 15 Wednesday Sunny - Min:-5Min: Max:3 21
Tel: 03 5143 9333
Thursday Mostly sunny Min: 3 Max: 14 16 Thursday Shower to -two - Min: 7 Max:
$2.00 Inc. GST INSIDE
PropertyGuide GippslandTimes
RESPONSE TO ADF ROYAL COMMISSION PAGE 3
Brilliant Bulldogs
RIDE TO FALLEN POLICE PAGE 6
Sale City defeated Heyfield 51-44 in the North Gippsland Football-Netball League A grade netball grand final on Saturday. It was one of five premierships won by the Bulldogs on the day. Photo: Erika Allen DETAILS, SPORT
Company searching for gas near Seaspray Philip Hopkins A VICTORIAN gas company which has been active in Gippsland for decades is about to seek approval for a project near Seaspray that it claims could provide 10 per cent of the state’s gas needs from early 2027. Lakes Blue Energy, previously Lakes Oil, maintains if its conventional well is approved - it does not require fracking - it could lead to the Wombat Field eventually producing 50 terajoules of gas daily, ultimately providing about 10 per cent of the state’s gas by 2027 when gas shortfalls are expected. This would not only prove Gippsland has a lot more gas than traditionally believed, but would also reinforce Gippsland’s gas sector as production from Esso’s wells in Bass Strait continues to slow. It comes as the state government has also loosened its gas policy, approving a new gas extraction project at Port Campbell and will
support more offshore gas storage in Bass Strait. Lakes Blue Energy chief operating officer, Tim O’Brien, told the Gippsland Times if approval was granted, drilling would begin at its Wombat-5 gas well in mid-2025. “What we have been trying to do for the past 12 years is some conventional appraisal work at Wombat, in the Strzelecki Formation in the top weathered zone,” he said, going on to explain the background to the company’s activities. The Strzelecki Formation consists of non-marine sedimentary rocks from the Earth’s Lower Cretaceous geological period. The Strzelecki Group outcrops extensively in the South Gippsland highlands and along coastal sections between San Remo and Inverloch. “Back in the early Cretaceous a lot was eroded off. Groundwater was going through and clearing out some of the clay in the formation,” Mr O’Brien said.
“That’s the top 100 metres or so of the formation, then you get into the tighter, more un-weathered stuff where that would require fracking at some stage in the future, if it is ever permitted again. “We’re confident we can get over 250 billion cubic feet of gas out of the top weathered section without requiring any fracture stimulation.” Mr O’Brien explained one billion cubic feet was about one petajoule; a billion cubic feet was a volumetric measurement, whereas a petajoule was a calorific, energy content measure. “Depending on the quality of your gas, a petajoule is actually slightly less than a billion cubic feet, but if you just use ‘one-for-one’; that makes it easier. If you are not overstating, you’ll always get more energy,” he said. Daily production of about 50 million cubic feet per day over the year is close to 20 petajoules, about 10 per
cent of Victoria’s annual use of 200210 petajoules a year. Mr O’Brien said that Gaffney Cline and Associates, a global consultancy in the energy sector which provided techno-commercial advice, estimated in 2008 a contingent resource of 293 billion cubic feet in the Wombat Field - “a recoverable resource”. This figure was revised up to 329 billion cubic feet in 2010 after the successful drilling of Wombat-4. However, this became a problem as the state government took a semantic attitude, stating there were “no proven reserves”; in Victoria. “To have a proven reserve, you need to have effectively a contract in place, a development plan; you need to be ready to sell the gas effectively. We have contingent resources, which means we have defined a volume of gas, but haven’t proven it to the commercial stage yet but the gas is there,” Mr O’Brien said. Continued page 6
GREAT CHASE REWARDS PAGE 9
GP1674242