Airport’s owners have joined several groups planning new or upgraded supply bases targeting oil and gas projects.
Former mining executive and Army reservist Luke Gleeson touched down at the remote Mungalalu Truscott Airbase last year as part of a deployment for Operation Sovereign Borders.
A year later, he found himself part-owner of the airport.
That opportunity arose after Mr Gleeson teamed up with good friends Peter Nixon and Rupert Kerr, who had been talking to the airport’s previous owners about upgrading the on-site accommodation.
The three men now own the historic airport, which was built in secrecy during WWII at the northern tip of Western Australia.
“We’re excited by the business case for a multi-user airport,” Mr Gleeson told Business News.
The former Bellevue Gold executive is now working full time on the project in his capacity as managing director of the renamed Mungalalu North Kimberley Airport.
The airport had about 10,000 passenger movements last year and Mr Gleeson sees potential for a lot more.
“Oil and gas underpins the airport,” he said.
Its proximity to projects in the offshore Bonaparte and Browse basins make it a convenient transit and supply hub for companies such as Shell, Jadestone Energy and Petrofac.
The airport is regularly used by the Australian Border Force, the Royal Flying Doctor Service, and tour operators.
The prospect of further big offshore oil and gas projects, led by the likes of Inpex, ENI and Woodside Energy, presents growth opportunities.
The biggest lure of all is Woodside’s proposed Browse gas project, estimated to cost in the order of $30 billion.
The airport’s new owners are not alone in seeing that potential.
Multiple projects
The privately owned Broome International Airport is already a major supply and transit hub for the offshore oil and gas sector.
It lays claim to the Southern Hemisphere’s largest heliport, transporting up to 45,000 passengers a year to work on offshore production facilities.
About 200 kilometres north of Broome at the tip of Dampier Peninsula, Djarindjin Airport has become a successful business in its own right by tapping into the same market.
Djarindjin is used as a refuelling and transit point for helicopters transferring workers to offshore facilities such as Inpex’s Ichthys platform and Shell’s Prelude vessel.
Djarindjin Aboriginal Corporation, which owns and runs the airport, earned $6.6 million from fuel sales and $4.7 million from landing fees in 2023.
Further west are two islands that, while currently home to iron ore mines, also hold potential as supply bases.
Private company Crestlink plans to invest $100 million over three years on Cockatoo Island.
It aims to develop a multi-user aviation and marine supply base with backing from investors led by private equity group Cerberus Capital Management.
The local traditional owners, through Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation, have also become shareholders in Crestlink.
Its plans took a step forward last month when it struck a deal to buy mining tenements and associated assets on the island from ASX-listed Pearl Gull Iron.
It is understood the main attraction of the Pearl Gull deal was the rights to dig up the ballast Crestlink will need for construction of its proposed deepwater wharf.
Crestlink also plans an upgraded airfield and a subsea workshop.
Last month, the Environmental Protection Authority of WA recommended Crestlink’s plans be approved; eight years after the project was submitted for assessment.
Crestlink chief executive Eanna Doolin believes the facility would offer a safer and more economical logistics route for operators in the region.
“For global maritime customers, having deepwater access, direct shipping lanes and cross-docking facilities at Cockatoo Island can lead to meaningful reductions in operational expenditures and fleet costs,” Mr Doolin told Business News.
“The development of an aerodrome on the island will also improve safety and efficiency for offshore energy customers by reducing airframe requirements for ‘de-manning’ and ‘re-manning’ platforms while improving search and rescue capabilities in the event of natural disasters.”
Next door to Cockatoo Island is Koolan Island, which is already home to a $20 million airstrip that enables direct flights from Perth.
Mount Gibson Iron currently operates on Koolan Island but its mining operations are expected to end next year.
That will be followed by a lengthy remediation process.
Chief executive Peter Kerr said Mount Gibson was working with traditional owners to plan for life beyond mining at Koolan Island.
“The main unknown at this point is to what extent is it best to leave infrastructure there for other uses post-mining,” Mr Kerr told Business News last year.
“That in particular is focused on the wharf and jetty, the camp and the airstrip.
“We know there are parties in government, defence forces and other industrial and oil and gas companies that are very keen to do things there.”
Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation outlined opportunities early this year for the island, which already houses a cultural centre.
Its proposals included accommodation, an art gallery and guided tours, fishing trips, bush tucker dining, and boat and helicopter charters.
Another project targeting tourism and freight but on a much larger scale is the Kimberley Marine Support Base.
The $225 million floating wharf at Broome was officially opened last month, lifting hopes the town will attract more cruise ships.
Northern potential
Mungalalu North Kimberley Airport has had several owners since it reopened for business in the late 1990s.
Most recent of these were Thailand-based oil and gas producer PTTEP and the estate of Arthur Hamilton, the founder of Darwin crane hire business Shorelands, who died in 2022.
PTTEP’s ownership stemmed from its one-time ownership of the Montara oil project, located off WA’s northern coast.
Having sold Montara to Jadestone Energy in 2018, it had no strategic interest in the airport.
The new owners are understood to have paid up to $20 million for both Mungalalu, which is the largest all-weather airport in the region, and Troughton Island airstrip, which is maintained as an emergency landing area 46 km to the north.
They plan to leverage their varied experience.
While Mr Gleeson comes from a mining and corporate background, his partners run Rapid Camps, which designs, builds, installs and maintains mining camps.
It currently has seven camps with about 700 rooms for clients including Mineral Resources.
Mr Nixon said there was potential to upgrade the airport’s accommodation of about 90 beds.
“One of the things I’m excited about is the opportunity to improve the standard of that camp facility to what people in the oil and gas industry are used to,” he said.
Mr Nixon said the airport’s isolated location and lack of road access – fuel supplies are brought in by barge – required very careful planning for any upgrade.
“You need to price it correctly and be really thorough,” he said.
Mr Gleeson said ENI’s Petrel gas project, Inpex’s proposed carbon capture and storage project in the Timor Sea, its proposed Cash-Maple project, and VBX’s proposed Wuudagu bauxite mine illustrated the potential for growth in airport usage.
The long-running decommissioning of the Northern Endeavour oil project, which will soon move into the removal of subsea infrastructure, was another opportunity.
Mr Gleeson said the airport’s location provided both safety and efficiency gains for project owners in the area.
He said the new owners were working closely with the area’s traditional owners: the Wunambal Gaambera Uunguu people and the Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation.
They hold native title over the airport and share in revenue, with any future expansion potentially opening up tourism opportunities.
The growing number of cruise ships along the Kimberley coast was yet another opportunity, with medical evacuations of elderly passengers a regular occurrence.
