The development of the “Greater Gorgon” gas fields located in a remote corner of the state of Western Australia ranks as the largest and most complex gas program undertaken in Australia. It is a challenging site: Gorgon is big, very big. How big? Jay R. Pryor, Vice President, Corporate Business Development Chevron Corporation, in a June speech put it best, “How big? Gorgon can supply enough natural gas to produce electricity for a city like New York for the next 100 years.” By George Lauriat, AJOTGreater Gorgon The “Greater Gorgon” field consists of a number of related gas fields including Gorgon, Chandon, Geryon, Orthrus, Maenad, Eurytion, Urania, Chrysaor, Dionysus, Jansz/Io and West Tryal Rocks. The Gorgon field is centered about 81 miles off the northwest coast of the state of Western Australia, where the water depth is around 660 feet. The other fields in the group lie to the north, and include Jansz-Io, which covers an area of 770 sq/mi with a water depth of 4,300 feet. Exploratory drilling in the Gorgon area began in the 1970s, but it wasn’t until the late 1990s that the large size of the fields put into motion a plan to develop the gas reserves. Preliminary approvals from the Western Australia State government were given in 2007. However the consortium of developers, led by Chevron (see box), revised their submission to cover an expansion in the size of the project. Final environmental approval was received from Western Australia on August 11, 2009. Fifteen days later Australia’s Federal Environment Minister green-lighted the expanded project on Barrow Island, setting the stage for the development of the Gorgon fields. The offshore fields lie about 770 miles north of Perth, and the city has become a de facto staging area for the $37 billion (and counting) Gorgon project. In Henderson, a suburb of Perth, the Gorgon Project’s supply base at the Australian Marine Complex (AMC) has been established to move construction materials and equipment headed for Barrow Island. The Offshore Marine Service Alliance (OMSA) provides marine transport support for the project and manages stevedoring operations at the AMC. The facility features offices, training facilities, a communications tower, hazardous goods sheds, a 689,000-sq/ft lay-down area, and a 51,666-sq/ft warehouse. It is anticipated that the Gorgon Project will ship one million freight tons from the AMC to Barrow Island during construction. Post Gorgon, the infrastructure at the AMC will still be an industry hub with a $35 million multi-function wharf. The destination for much of the project freight is Barrow Island and neighboring Thevenard Island. Thevenard Island is an oil depot for shipping crude from six Chevron-operated offshore petroleum reservoirs, Saladin, Roller, Skate, Yammaderry, Cowle and Cres, to Australian refineries.

Gorgon Project Stakeholders

*Australian Subsidiaries Note Chevron also holds approximately 75% of the Wheatstone venture.
Barrow Island, in addition to being the focus of the project, is an A-Class Nature Reserve. Currently, work is underway on Barrow Island to build the Gorgon Project’s Materials Offloading Facility (MOF) and jetty. Ultimately the island’s facilities will include a gas processing facility consisting of three, 5 million tons per year LNG trains