BP's new $6.4 million crude oil unloading facility at the Kwinana refinery will officially be opened this morning.
The launch of the facility provides the Kwinana refinery with increased capacity to cope with oil deliveries from Western Australia's first commercial offshore oil discovery in the Perth Basin, the Cliff Head Oil Field.
Operated by Australian ROC Oil on behalf of its joint venture parties - Australia Worldwide Exploration, Wandoo Petroleum, ARC and CIECO Exploration and Production - the project will contribute to about 10 per cent of WA's oil requirements in its first year.
"The project establishes the basin as Australia's fourth offshore oil producing region, after Bass Strait, the North West Shelf and the Timor Sea," Resources minister Bowler said.
"The field is estimated to have a lifespan of about 10 to 15 years and produce
14 million barrels of crude oil and generate $1.2billion. This will initially peak at about $300million per year."
The Minister said all production from Cliff Head was being sold to BP and without the new facility, the Kwinana refinery would not have been able to cope with the increased oil deliveries.
BP believes the investment in the facility will cater for all anticipated future volumes from the basin. Cliff Head will have priority access but, on agreement between the Cliff Head project and BP, the facility could be used for other crude oil deliveries.