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Geoscience workflows for CO2 storage

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A review and summary by Steve Moss

Geoenergy is a new journal co-owned between the Geological Society and the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE) that was established in 2023 (Geoenergy Home). The journal is dedicated to the publication of non-hydrocarbon energy geoscience and engineering research. In a similar fashion to its stable-mate journal, Petroleum Geoscience, Geoenergy focuses on the publication of timely and topical research in subsurface geoscience, critical for this new era of sustainable energy aiming to provide high quality papers of both fundamental research and case studies of subsurface and near surface analysis.

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Oll and Gas Industry Embraces Robots for Increased Efficiencies

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With the applications of robotics continuously evolving, the oil and gas industry has emerged as a significant adopter of the technology to improve safety and efficiency of operations. 

Robots equipped with advanced technologies are yielding increasingly positive results, bringing a continued transformation in the operations of oil and gas companies, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company,

GlobalData’s latest thematic report, “Robotics in Oil and Gas,” highlights the role of major oil and gas companies, such as ADNOC, BP, Eni, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Repsol, Rosneft, Shell, and TotalEnergies in the development and adoption of robotics to enhance safety and productivity on the field. 

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QLD Student and Early Career Mixer

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Despite the heavy rain, October’s joint-industry Student & Early Career Mixer was a huge hit with budding and established geologists alike, who made their way to Milton for industry networking opportunities.

The event attracted almost 100 attendees with a roughly even split between students, early careers geoscientists and established professionals.

The night’s youngest attendee, Ben Walker (who also happens to be the son of PESA Qld’s President), was the lucky recipient of one of the networking bingo rock prizes – a quartz geode from Morocco.

A big thanks to PESA Qld’s Kat Gioseffi and Martin Mackinlay for their help in organising the successful industry-collaborative event.

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Woodside and Chevron Asset Swap

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On 19 December 2024, both Woodside and Chevron announced their agreement to an asset swap in which Woodside will acquire Chevron’s 16.67% interest in the North West Shelf Project and the North West Shelf Oil Project and it’s 20% interest in the Angel Carbon Capture and Storage Project. In turn, Chevron will acquire Woodside’s interest in 13% interest in the Wheatstone project and 65% interest in the Julimar-Brunello project.

Both companies have indicated that the transactions streamline and focus their respective portfolio’s.

Chevron will make a cash payment to Woodside of up to US$200 million paid at key milestones and contingent of the execution and hand over of Julimar Phase 3.

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Two additional Greenhouse Gas Assessment Permits Granted

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December 2024 saw the award of two additional Greenhouse Gas Assessment Permits:

These awards take the total number of GHG Assessment Permits within Australia to 17, with all major basins covered.

A GHG assessment permit authorizes the participating companies to explore the permit area for potential GHG storage formations or injection sites.

https://public.neats.nopta.gov.au/Opggs/Title/c83e6e69-55d8-4861-ad39-6b566e90e780

https://public.neats.nopta.gov.au/Opggs/Title/e3819c9d-c272-4774-8c39-6fc46f34aaa2

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“Energy Unearthed” – PESA QLD Symposium

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Authors: Kat Gioseffi, Fernando Valencia Fermin

In early September, several Santos technical staff attended the 2024 PESA QLD Symposium. Ten students submitted posters and over 90 delegates attended the full day event at the Brisbane Conference and Exhibition Centre. Themed “Energy Unearthed”, speakers and posters covered a diverse array of topics including:

Several Keynote speakers discussed the importance of natural gas in supporting global decarbonisation and natural gases position in maintaining Australia’s energy security. These speakers referenced the Future Gas Strategy released earlier this year recognising essential role natural gas plays in Net Zero 2050.

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Beehive Getting Closer

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The highly anticipated drilling of the “Beehive” prospect took a step closer on 2 January this year with NOPSEMA accepting the environmental plan for the drilling of up to three exploration and / or appraisal wells on the structure.

Beehive is in Bonaparte Basin WA-488-P and is 100% owned by EOR Resources. The wells are to target a large Carbonate Platform and have a planned total depth of up to 6,000m. Approval is for any time up to 31 December 2029. EOG has stated it intends to drill the prospect in 2025/26.

Previous owners, Melbana have indicated the structure could contain up to 1.4 billion barrels of oil.

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Karratha Gas Plant

Lagging Renewables in North Asia may mean more LNG

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By Rick Wilkinson

The North Asian trio of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan play a major role in global LNG markets. According to the International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers, they were the second, third, and fifth largest LNG importers, respectively, in 2024, collectively accounting for one third of global LNG imports.

However, they have been following different trajectories. Japanese LNG demand has been falling while demand has been growing in the other two countries. Japan and Korea are aiming to cut their LNG imports by 2030 as part of their emission reduction strategies.

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Surface interaction changes in minerals for underground hydrogen Storage: Effects of CO2 cushion gas

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by Hamid Esfandyari et al

This article was originally published in Renewable Energy 237 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2024.121726

0960-1481/© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Hydrogen (H2) offers a promising solution for the energy transition but storing it on a large scale at the surface poses significant technical and environmental challenges. Underground formations provide a practical alternative for large-scale H2 storage, yet understanding H2 behavior under various subsurface conditions is crucial for optimizing storage capacity and efficiency, which are influenced by rock properties such as wettability.

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