Environment Minister Donna Faragher has today given approval for the development of the Devil Creek onshore gas processing plant, a joint venture between Apache Energy and Santos.
Environment Minister Donna Faragher has today given approval for the development of the Devil Creek onshore gas processing plant, a joint venture between Apache Energy and Santos.
The approval follows on off project decisions around six months ago when in December, both companies deferred development of the project due to the sharp deterioration in the global economy which had affected the proposed foundation customer.
A month later the project was back on after the JV partners secured a $US585 million gas supply contract with CITIC Pacific, which will use the gas for its $US3.5 billion Sino Iron project near Cape Preston.
The project involves the construction of the Devil Creek plant south of Karratha, which will process gas from the Reindeer gas field.
Ms Faragher said the operation will boost domestic gas supply by up to 220 terajoules a day to the Dampier to Bunbury natural gas pipeline.
The project is subject to "stringent" environmental conditions relating to vegetation, fauna, the marine environment and greenhouse gas emissions.
"I have approved the project, subject to a comprehensive and enforceable set of conditions, aimed at rehabilitating areas of native vegetation that are disturbed during construction and minimising disturbance to turtles during the laying of the gas pipeline," Ms Faragher said.
"I have also established strict criteria to prevent long-term impacts on the near shore marine environment, which includes corals, seagrass and algal communities."
The announcement is below:
Environment Minister Donna Faragher today granted environmental approval, subject to stringent conditions, for the Apache-Devil Creek Development Project,.
Apache Energy Ltd proposes to develop a greenfield gas development in order to recover and process the gas reserves from the Reindeer gas field, providing an additional domestic gas supply of up to 220 terajoules per day to the
Dampier-Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline.
The onshore component of the proposal is located approximately 45km south-west of Karratha on the Pilbara coast, with the shoreline crossing occurring at Forty Mile Beach adjacent to Gnoorea Point.
Mrs Faragher said there were several key environmental issues assessed during the environmental approval process.
"These issues related to terrestrial flora and vegetation, terrestrial fauna, marine fauna, marine environments and greenhouse gas emissions," she said.
"I have approved the project, subject to a comprehensive and enforceable set of conditions, aimed at rehabilitating areas of native vegetation that are disturbed during construction and minimising disturbance to turtles during the laying of the gas pipeline.
"I have also established strict criteria to prevent long-term impacts on the near shore marine environment, which includes corals, seagrass and algal communities."