Kimberley Gas Project Seeks EPA Approval, Aims to Power Northern WA by 2029

A Western Australian energy company is pushing forward with a proposed gas project in the Kimberley region, touting it as a potential solution to the area's reliance on imported energy. Buru Energy has referred its Rafael conventional gas project to the state's Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) for review, with the company claiming it could meet the region's power demands with locally produced energy for the first time.

Project Details

The Rafael project involves developing a facility at the project site, located in the Kimberley's Canning Basin about 85 kilometres south of Derby, to process conventional gas from two co-located production wells. Conventional gas is natural gas extracted using simple drilling and pumping methods.

Buru executive chairman David Maxwell said the Rafael project was the only proven conventional gas and liquids resource in the greater Kimberley region.

"At the moment, the Kimberley relies on imported energy … from Karratha, Perth, Darwin, and Asia," he said.

"It's the first opportunity for the Kimberley to have gas and LPG [Liquefied Petroleum Gas] in particular, supplied from within the region."

Up to 300 tonnes of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) would be produced at the Rafael plant per day — the equivalent of about 16 or 17 terajoules of energy — alongside LPG and condensate. Mr Maxwell said the Kimberley used between six and 13 terajoules per day for power generation, with the amount varying based on the time of year.

"We have the capacity to supply 100 per cent of the Kimberley's gas demand," he said.

"We'll also supply beyond the Kimberley into, for example, the northern Pilbara. In the case of LPG, we would be supplying in the order of a quarter to a third of the Kimberley's LPG demand."

Environmental Concerns

Environmentalists have expressed concern that Buru's Rafael project, although a conventional gas project, could pave the way for fracking to occur in the future. Environs Kimberley executive director Martin Pritchard said Rafael "could be a Trojan horse for fracking".

"They (Buru) might be saying right now that they're not intending on fracking, but their statements to the ASX clearly say that they want to undertake fracking in the future," he said.

Buru's David Maxwell rejected the accusation.

"It's got nothing to do with fracking at all," he said.

"And if there was any fracking involved — and I stress there is not — that would be a separate [EPA] referral, a separate application and a separate approval process and we're not in that process at all."

WA Mines Minister Daniel Pastorelli acknowledged that fracking is a controversial topic.

"I understand everyone has differing views on these types of things and I respect that completely," he said.

"Obviously our policy and our approach is based on science, and that is what we're doing when it comes to hydraulic fracturing."

Buru Energy previously used hydraulic fracturing at its Yulleroo gas field in the Canning Basin, but Mr Maxwell said it no longer did so.

"We do not currently practice hydraulic fracturing," he said.

"In the past Buru has, but Buru has put that on the shelf, and at the moment we have no plans for fracture stimulation."

Mr Pritchard said solar and batteries, rather than gas fields, were the way forward for cheaper and cleaner electricity in the Kimberley.

"What we need to be doing is ramping up renewable energy, and we need to do that as quickly as possible," Mr Pritchard said.

Buru Energy expects a decision from the EPA by the end of the year and hopes to produce the first gas by early 2029.