Application of battery energy storage systems in industrial facilities

For any facility, reliability and availability of power are key. Traditional gas- or diesel-driven power generation designs for facilities rely on generated spinning reserve to achieve power system stability and availability for defined operational scenarios and expected transients. Spinning reserve is extra generating capacity that is usually introduced by running additional power generator(s). Battery energy storage systems (BESSs) as energy storage units provide for a virtual spinning reserve in a hot standby arrangement to achieve the same effect for a set period during operating scenarios and transient events. Use of BESS technology is becoming more frequent within electrical network systems, remote sites and industrial facilities on the back of improved battery technology. This lends itself to better BESS reliability, effectiveness and lower associated cost to procure and install. Many of Clough’s projects are remote and islanded where they need to be self-sufficient, generating and distributing their own power needs. BESS units are scalable energy storage systems that can be used as a part of power generation solutions for facilities installed onshore or offshore. In addition to supplementing the primary generation on a facility as static storage units, BESS units offer benefits such as reduced emissions on facilities by not burning fossil fuels to achieve spinning reserve; they also allow for power management of generation systems, store any excess power from primary generators, allow for integration of renewables, offer constructability benefits and reduced operational/maintenance costs. The commercial and environmental benefits of BESS units are key drivers in Clough’s decision to embrace their use on future projects.

2021 Offshore petroleum exploration acreage release

In 2020, the liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade saw a modest increase of 1%, which is in contrast to the strong growth of previous years. Recently, the global LNG trade has picked up following the easing of impacts from the pandemic and demand growth in Asia. An increase of 6% in the global LNG trade is expected in 2021 and 2022. Domestic demand for gas remains high, with gas being used both for residential supply and also as an essential feedstock for the manufacturing industry. With a projected domestic gas shortfall, the future exploration and development of oil and gas will play a key role in ensuring access to secure, reliable and affordable energy in the future as well as assisting economic recovery from the pandemic. The importance of remaining an attractive investment destination is essential. Our challenge is to not only strike the balance of being agile and adaptive to market disruptions but also provide robust policy and regulatory frameworks to underpin future investment in the sector. Against this backdrop, this paper provides details of the 2021 offshore petroleum exploration acreage release and information about the ongoing policy work of the department.

Agile framework for capital projects

Under the increased pressure of rapidly changing market conditions and disrupting technologies, continuous improvements in efficiency become indispensable for all oil and gas operators. Traditional project management principles in the oil and gas industry employ rigid methods of planning and execution that can sometimes hinder adaptability and a quick response to change. Considering the potential that Agile principles can offer as a solution, the challenge, therefore, is to identify the ideal, hybrid, approach that leverages Agile while incorporating the traditional linear workflow necessitated by the oil and gas industry. This paper seeks to assess pre-existing literature in the application of the Agile principles in the oil and gas industry with a focus on Major Capital Projects (MCPs), backed by the successes experienced as a result of specific pilot projects completed at Chevron’s Australian Business Unit. In particular, this paper will focus on how agility has resulted in improvements to the cost, schedule, teaming and cohesion of MCPs in the early phases as well as key learnings form the pilot agility projects.

Mobile autonomous methane monitoring stations for emission measurement

Natural gas has been forecast to continue grow up to 30% for the next 40 years and will remain as a key energy source. Alongside this projected growth, both the government and the industry have committed to reduce emission reductions. A critical focus is fugitive emissions, which are related to leaks or unintended losses of methane from sources such as hydrocarbon production, processing, transport, storage, transmission and distribution. The need for measuring and monitoring these emissions has been recognised in significant environmental inquiries related to the gas industry, such as the Northern Territory Fracking Inquiry (Pepper et al. 2018) and required in section D of the NT Code of Practice. This study describes an autonomous emission monitoring station developed to address the challenge of characterising temporally varying fugitive methane emissions. It has been designed specifically to tolerate the Australian outback’s extreme climateswhile providing laboratory-grade measurements in real-time at locations where there will be no access to grid power and standard telecommunications. Preliminary results demonstrating the continuous real-time measurements of methane and ethane concentrations of temporally varying phenomena will be presented. Specifically, the detection of methane and ethane concentrations and temporal changes related to bushfire progress will be shown.

International standardisation driving global competitiveness and sustainability of the oil and gas and future energy industries

The World Economic Forum has identified that the oil and gas (O&G) industry must lead the process of its own transformation by innovation and multistakeholder collaboration. The Capital Project Complexity initiative is an industry-wide, noncompetitive collaboration on standardisation and use of procurement specifications. Australia is now a major contributor to this collaboration which has brought together all the major O&G operators through the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) network and the standardisation bodies including International Organization for Standardization (ISO), American Petroleum Institute Standards, European Committee for Standardization, Gulf Cooperation Council Standardization Organization, Standardization Administration of China, Standards Australia (SA) and many more. The focus is on developing common international standards through an IOGP Standards-ISO/TC67 link and standardised equipment specifications linking to these standards through IOGP-JIP33. Australia contributes via SA’s mirror committee ME-92, which is now fully established with direct involvement in the ISO/TC67 9 subcommittee areas and 13 working groups covering 261 current and developing standards. In September 2020, the first of these standards, AS ISO 29001, was identically adopted as an Australian standard. With the Australian experts now ensuring ISO Standards will incorporate Australian industry expertise, knowledge and regulatory requirements where possible future revisions will enable them to be adopted as the next revision of the Australian standard. This industry-wide collaboration will ensure future project costs are optimised and safety enhanced through use of the global industry knowledge while also reducing the need to write local standards. This study describes Australia’s strategy being pursued to align with the global industry. It also provides information on how this network is supporting the development of knowledge transfer to the decommissioning and new energy industries that will form Australia’s future.