In Greek mythology, “gorgons” such as Medusa were terrifying creatures who could turn you to stone with just a look. Sitting off the north coast of Western Australia, the Greater Gorgon gas fields certainly have the ability to leave energy experts frozen in their tracks, as the area is estimated to contain about 40 trillion cubic feet of gas – making it Australia’s largest-known gas resource. Back in October, we reported that Chevron awarded GE Oil & Gas a contract worth over $400 million to supply advanced liquefied natural gas (LNG) technology for the drilling project. Today, that deal has now grown to include even more equipment — including orders of new natural gas turbines — bringing the total of Chevron’s deal with GE to over $1.1 billion.
Fill ‘er up! Located off of Barrow Island, the Gorgon natural gas fields contain enough gas to power a city the size of Dublin or Naples for 800 years. Above is an artist’s rendition of the liquefied natural gas being loaded onto ships. Source: Chevron.
The Gorgon project will supply cleaner burning natural gas for the growing Asia-Pacific and Australian markets — and features the world’s largest project to capture and store carbon dioxide. Much of the GE Oil & Gas technology is being used so that the gas can be liquefied, making it easy to transport via ship or pipeline. For example, GE’s “Refrigerant Compression Trains,” are a series of compressors driven by gas that will chill the natural gas to a liquid state of minus 160-degrees Celsius.
Under the sea: GE Oil & Gas’ Drilling and Production business will supply the subsea production system that will be installed between 60km and 140 km offshore of Barrow Island, in water that is 200 to 1,350 meters deep. Source: Chevron.
In LNG production, removing the CO2 is necessary as it can freeze in the LNG process, potentially damaging equipment. The current standard practice by all operating LNG facilities worldwide is to vent this CO2 into the atmosphere as a concentrated stream. However, Gorgon will be the first LNG Project to reinject and store the C02 rather than vent it — and GE compressor technology will also be at the heart of this process. The amount of C02 emissions that will be avoided through this process is the equivalent of taking more than 630,000 passenger cars off US roads every year. The project will ultimately inject up to four times more carbon dioxide than any other worldwide.
Heavy lifting: GE’s subsea equipment, which is used to produce gas from the offshore fields, will ultimately total approximately 10,000 tons in weight — making it arguably one of the largest ever fabrication scopes in a subsea development project to date. Here, a helicopter at the site is seen airlifting supplies. Source: Chevron.
Equipment such as the advanced liquefaction compressors and Frame 9 gas turbines that will be used to meet the needs of Barrow Island’s gas treatment and liquefaction facilities will be made in GE’s factories in France and Italy. Other equipment, such as the Frame 7 mechanical drive gas turbines required for Gorgon’s production of 15 million tons per year of liquefied natural gas will be made at GE’s plant in Greenville, South Carolina. The subsea equipment supply will be managed from GE Oil & Gas offices in Perth Australia. Other GE facilities around the world — in the UK, Norway and Singapore – will also be delivering other components.
Plenty to go around: The Gorgon Project is a joint venture of the Australian subsidiaries of Chevron (approximately 47 percent), ExxonMobil (25 percent) and Shell (25 percent), Osaka Gas (1.25 percent), Tokyo Gas (one percent) and Chubu Electric (0.417 percent). Source: Chevron.
Claudi Santiago, President and CEO of GE Oil & Gas said: “I am delighted that GE Oil & Gas has again been selected by Chevron, this time to meet Gorgon’s substantial subsea equipment and power generation requirements with high performance, efficiency and reliability. These further contract wins strengthen our partnership role in the project, confirming our technology leadership position which is built on a proven, diverse and integrated solutions portfolio.”
Deep dive: In simple terms, the technology will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the injection and storage of carbon dioxide underground. The CO2 injection location is on the central eastern coast of Barrow Island near the gas processing plant. This site was selected to maximize the migration distance from major geological faults and limit ground disturbance.
* Read today’s announcement
* Read “GE Wins $1.1 Billion Supply Contracts From Gorgon” from Bloomberg
* Read more GE Oil & Gas stories on GE Reports
* Learn more about the Gorgon field at www.chevronaustralia.com
* Learn more about GE Oil & Gas
* Visit the Gorgon Project website
* Read previous GE Oil & Gas news on Gorgon
* Learn more about GE Oil & Gas LNG capabilities
* Read a GE Oil & Gas Factsheet