Mythbusting Wheatstone
There has been much mirth around the names of gas fields off the Western Australian coast.
The Note was not the first to be amused by Woollybutt gas field but clearly a few geologists enjoyed themselves – the Roller, Coaster and Skate discoveries all close by to each other.
And who knows what they were thinking when they named Mutineer and Hurricane, subjects best left alone when it comes to maritime endeavours.
Thankfully, most of the fields have clearly been named by people with a higher class of learning. Figures from Greek mythology – though not always pleasant ones – litter the offshore world; take for instance Dionysus, Athena, Gaea, Gorgon, Pluto and Xena ... well OK, not the last one.
Ichthys, the Japanese project, is also Greek but simply means fish.
So what about Wheatstone, Chevron’s latest LNG project near Onslow, which has just got sign-off and a $4 billion addition to the price tag which should see it cost at least $29 billion.
The new project is named after a marine feature known as the Wheatstone Channel. Regular readers will know the trouble we had determining what the proposed port of Anketell was named after, concluding it was a murdered bank manager, not a former surveyor who roamed the Pilbara. So, Wheatstone might have its own connection to WA’s history, some rogue buccaneer perhaps?
The only famous Wheatstone we could locate was Sir Charles, a pioneering 19th century scientist whose major contribution was refining a device to measure electrical resistance. There must be something more, surely?
Corrigan to the rescue?
Speaking of resistance, we were hearing a new name thrown into the mix for the development of Oakajee. Port group POAGS, a division of listed group Qube, which has Chris Corrigan as one of its major players, was being bandied around last week.
They were, however, reluctant to talk to us.
