One of the world's largest oil and gas producers is using the technical expertise of Australian researchers to lift the industry's performance.

An alliance between Australian researchers and Chevron, one of the world’s largest oil and gas producers, is undertaking an innovative R&D program that cuts across the entire petroleum value chain, with the intention of lifting the whole oil and gas sector to a higher performance level.

The partnership between Chevron and the Western Australian Energy Research Alliance (WAERA) – a consortium of Curtin University of Technology, the University of Western Australia and CSIRO – brings together the technical capability of CSIRO and the universities with the industry’s operational expertise.

Tony Eaton, Chevron’s manager Alliance for Advanced Energy Solutions Western Australia (AES:WA), says the collaboration has the potential to create major savings in investment and operating costs within the industry.

“Chevron is involved with WAERA because it shares Australia’s interest in realising the potential of its vast natural gas resources,” Mr Eaton says. “Across the world Chevron seeks high-quality research organisations that can help improve the knowledge and technology base.

“In a number of areas CSIRO is ranked in the top one per cent of research institutions. Those areas are directly deployable to the oil and gas industry. The AES:WA alliance with WAERA allows Chevron to work with that capability.”

The alliance is a vehicle for maximising ongoing and future investment in research projects in Western Australia that are relevant to oil and gas exploration and development, hydrocarbon processing, industry-related health, safety and environmental issues, and education and training initiatives.

It provides for multiple research projects over an open-ended period, with Chevron committed to investing up to $5 million a year. One of the objectives is to develop technologies that will substantially increase recovery, and cut running costs and capital investment, in the development and operation of offshore gas fields.

Australia has considerable gas resources in deep water that require a change of thinking in the design of wells and the implementation of novel downhole and subsea processing technologies.

A way to achieve this goal is to eliminate conventional production platforms to reduce capital and operational costs, which will open up opportunities for exploration and resource development in these fields.

This is the focus of the Platform-Free Fields program, led by the Wealth from Oceans Flagship, says program leader Edson Nakagawa.

Rick Ede, CSIRO’s general manager for client and partner relationships, says the alliance provides a multifaceted approach to address the oil and gas industry’s long-term research needs. The programs target key technology challenges for the industry, including subsurface and gas technologies.

Researchers from across CSIRO are working together within the Wealth from Oceans Flagship on large-scale projects that cut across the entire value chain, from subsurface to the deployment of oil or gas.

APPLICATION Chevron is partnering with a consortium of Australian researchers to work on oil and gas exploration projects in Western Australia.

BENEFIT Technologies that will increase recovery and reduce running costs and capital investment in the development and operation of offshore gas fields.

Pipelines Without Platforms

A major risk in transporting gas through offshore pipelines is the formation of gas hydrates – ice crystals composed of gas and water – which, if they block pipelines, interrupt production and, in severe cases, can cause pipelines to rupture.

The mechanisms for the formation and growth of hydrates are poorly understood, making it difficult for design engineers and operators to predict when a problem might occur. Consequently, they adopt a cautious approach, making sure pipes are well insulated or adding large quantities of chemicals that inhibit hydrate formation.

Not surprisingly, the ability to accurately predict the hydrate risk could lead to savings of
millions of dollars in the design and operation of a gas field, and potentially even make the difference between a viable and non-viable field.

In what is said to be a world first, CSIRO researchers working through the Wealth from Oceans Flagship have built an instrument that can study the formation of gas hydrates using real gas under high-pressure conditions. The project is providing reliable and crucial information about the type of conditions that promote hydrate formation.

Using the instrument, known as a high pressure automatic lag time apparatus (HP ALTA), researchers record the time and temperature of hydrate formation. After hundreds of measurements, the information is statistically analysed, providing a better understanding of the probability of crystal formation under differing conditions. Engineers can use this information to factor the risk of hydrate formation into a pipeline’s design and operation.

“The main aim of our project is to provide reliable data under a range of conditions to make sure the model is accurate,” says project leader Karen Kozielski of CSIRO Molecular and Health Technologies.

The researchers are looking at a number of factors that might influence hydrate formation, such as pressure, temperature and the presence of sand or other impurities in the pipe. “If we can determine a risk factor for all these variables it helps to predict what will happen in a real situation,” Dr Kozielski says.

For further information contact:
CSIRO Enquiries
Email: Solve@csiro.au      Web: www.csiro.au
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Last Updated: August 10, 2007
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