Golden Beach negotiating pipeline deal to develop offshore Gippsland field
Golden Beach Energy (GB Energy), Melbourne, has entered a non-binding, but exclusive transaction process deed to negotiate documentation and execution of a proposal for the Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG) to fund, build, and operate midstream infrastructure for development of Golden Beach gas field offshore Victoria.
The gas field, discovered in 1967 by Burmah Oil Co., lies in retention permit Vic/RL1 (V) 3 km offshore in Victorian state waters. It lies in 20 m of water and is estimated to be capable of producing 50 petajoules of gas over a 3-year period.
The AGIG deal would cover all the plant, property, equipment, and activities needed for transmission and processing the gas to and from the field. Development cost would be about $200 million (AUS).
Golden Beach gas could be piped to ExxonMobil’s Bass Strait field’s Longford gas hub about 25 km away and fed into the associated pipeline infrastructure for delivery to the Victorian market.
AGIG and GB Energy are also working towards AGIG’s involvement in the $145 million (AUS) development of Golden Beach field project’s upstream infrastructure which covers plant, property, equipment, and drilling activities.
AGIG, which is an amalgam of three separate businesses—AGN, Multinet Gas Networks and Dampier to Bunbury Pipeline—owns and operates one of Australia’s largest gas infrastructure businesses with operations across every mainland state and the Northern Territory. Its operations include 40,000 km of gas distribution and transmission pipelines, 60 petajoules of gas storage capacity, gas processing facilities, and remote power generation.
GB Energy’s link with AGIG follows an agreement signed by GB Energy in February 2019 with Origin Energy to purchase all the natural gas to be produced from Golden Beach gas field.
Origin also entered into a foundation storage contract with GB Energy when the company transitions the field reservoir into an underground storage facility at the end of the field’s natural productive life.
Golden Beach field was considered marginal upon its discovery, particularly as the gas has only minor liquid content. Since then, ownership has passed through Woodside, OMV Australia, and Santos. GB Energy is the current owner with 100% interest.