Offshore staff
PERTH, Western Australia -- The Gorgon joint venture participants: Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell, have taken the next step forward for the Gorgon project.
Australia's Federal Minister for the Environment the Hon. Malcolm Turnbull, has issued Australian government approval for the Gorgon Development Proposal on Barrow Island sourcing gas from the Gorgon joint venture resources off Australia's northwest coast.
The Minister's decision was a welcome outcome after four years of rigorous state and federal assessment that has produced a comprehensive environmental management regime, says Colin Beckett, Chevron Australia general manager for the Greater Gorgon Area, speaking on behalf of the joint venture participants.
"The Western Australia and federal governments have provided an environmental management regime under which the project proponents, governments, and community can continue working together to maintain the conservation values of Barrow Island while generating significant economic benefits into the future," Beckett says.
"We will now build the detailed environmental conditions into our work regarding the project's overall optimization and engineering, which is aimed at making certain Gorgon is a beneficial, long-term project from a design, operability, and economics point of view. We believe it is important to take time to get this project right. We are doing as much work as possible to ensure Australia's largest known gas resource is developed in an effective, efficient, responsible, and internationally competitive manner," Beckett says.
The Gorgon Project, with an estimated resource base of more than 40 tcf of gas and a nominal development life of around 60 years, is operated by the Australian subsidiary of Chevron in joint venture with Australian subsidiaries of ExxonMobil and Shell.
10/11/2007
