Red Gully Gas and Condensate Plant Nears Completion in Western Australia

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Perth, Australia)--The Red Gully Gas and Condensate Plant near the Western Australian town of Gingin is nearing completion. Construction commenced on the gas plant in August 2012 and is on track to be complete by the end of this month.

The single-train gas processing plant will have an initial capacity of 10 Terajoules per day, or 9.5 million metric standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD), but plans are in place to more than double this to 20 MMSCFD as demand increases. Gas produced at Red Gully is being sourced from two wells, Red Gully-1 and Gingin West-1. Early testing of these wells indicated that both were very high in condensate content, producing between 50 and 80 barrels of condensate per 1 million cubic feet of gas.

The condensate will be transported by road tanker more than 60 miles (100 kilometres) to the BP Refinery, located in Kwinana.

Under a sales agreement struck in October 2012, gas produced at the Red Gully facility will be sold to Alcoa Australia (ASX:AAI) (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Over the course of the agreement, 15,000 terajoules of gas will be sold to Alcoa, which is funding the majority of the project, providing $25.8 million (AU$25 million) of its $30.3 million (AU$29.1 million) cost.

The gas will be supplied to Alcoa via the Dampier Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DBNGP). Thistle Fabrication (Perth, Western Australia) was responsible for the two-mile (3.2-kilometre) pipeline that connects the facility to the DBNGP.

Current work at the facility is focused on electrics and testing. The cable support system and instrumentation are also entering the final stages, as cabling, terminations, lighting and power are progressing as well. Structural work around the workshop has been completed, but continues around the flash gas acoustic enclosure.

The flash gas compressor was the final piece of major equipment to arrive on site. It was constructed by Enerflex Limited (TSX:EFX) (Alberta, Canada) in Houston, Texas, and is used to assist in the recovery of flash gas from the condensate processing stream for reintroduction to the facility. The gas engine alternator also was manufactured in Houston, but final electrical packaging and function testing was conducted in Italy before being shipped to Western Australia.

At the plant, some stainless piping continues to be finalized, the flowline is complete and some painting work continues.

With work on the Red Gully plant now nearly complete, the owner, Empire Oil & Gas (ASX:EGO) (Perth), is now turning its attention to surveying and exploring its other lease-holds in the area.

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