ON OFF SHORE OIL & GAS

Friday 27 May 201

Changes to the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act

— New Inquiry —

The House of Representatives Agriculture, Resources, Fisheries and Forestry Committee will examine five bills introduced to the House on 25 May 2011 by the Hon Martin Ferguson AM MP, Minister for Resources and Energy, relating to the administration of the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 and related legislation. The five bills are:

· Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (National Regulator) Bill 2011

· Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Registration Fees) Amendment Bill 2011

· Offshore Petroleum (Royalty) Amendment Bill 2011

· Offshore Resources Legislation Amendment (Personal Property Securities) Bill 2011

· Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Regulatory Levies Legislation Amendment (2011 Measures No. 2) Bill 2011

The bills seek to streamline Australia’s regulatory system in relation to offshore petroleum and greenhouse gas related activities. They establish a single national offshore regulator, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA); and create a new National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator (NOPTA), replacing the system of State based Designated Authorities currently in place. NOPTA and NOPSEMA will operate on a full cost recovery basis.

These changes are designed to reduce the regulatory burden on the industry while ensuring transparency in the costs of industry regulation.

The terms of reference are the text of the bills, which can be accessed, together with the Explanatory Memorandum, on the Committee’s website.

Submissions are due by Friday, 10 June 2011, although the Committee would appreciate that submissions be sent as early as possible. The Committee would prefer submissions to be sent electronically to arff.reps@aph.gov.au Submitters are encouraged to read the information on preparing a submission available on the committee website before lodging their submission.

For media comment: please contact the Committee Chair, the Hon Dick Adams MP, on (02) 6277 4293 or email D.Adams.MP@aph.gov.au

Further information: contact the Inquiry Secretary (02) 6277 4500, email arff.reps@aph.gov.au or visit the Committee’s webpage at http://www.aph.gov.au/arff

Issued by:

Andrew Dawson, media manager, International & Community Relations Office,

Parliament of Australia Tel: (02) 6277 2063 wk, 0401 143 724 mob.

What about LNG and CNG?
Presenter: Andrew Armstrong

Department of Transport and Main Roads
Listen to Presentation

Andrew provided a brief overview of the natural gas options within freight vehicles.

Received & published by Henry Sapiecha

51 Allara Street
Canberra  ACT  2600
PH: 02 6213 7961 FAX: 02 6213 7945
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Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

Eco Factor: Low-emission fuel sources discovered in China.

China has discovered new sources of frozen combustible ice on the tundra of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which according to researchers can supply China with 90 years worth of energy. The new reserve equals at least 35 billion tons of oil and is one of the newest sources of energy to be discovered.

Combustible ice is a frozen form of natural gas that has been found in high altitude frozen plateaus as well as underwater in marine sediments. The frozen hydrates can be lit on fire, however, researchers expect that the hydrate will have to go through a phase change process where it will be melted into methane and water before it can be combusted efficiently.

One cubic meter of combustible ice contains 164 cubic meters of natural gas and is considered to have few impurities, which means that the fuel can be combusted with lower emissions.

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 5th May 2010

Two years ago the MDHCC brought in anew high-efficiency gas engine tri-generation plant .

The results have beensignificant in the high energy savings and
reduction of CO2 emissions.
Since the installation of the new system, MDHCC has raised COP by 0.5 points and has achieved a 24% reduction of fuel
consumption and cut CO2 emissions by 24,000t/a.
This saving of energy and reduction of CO2 emissions results from the best mix of optimum layout and design of highefficiency equipment such as gas engines which generate power using clean natural gas as fuel and optimum operational technology.
Two high-efficiency Wärtsilä engines with a power generation efficiency of
45.6% have been introduced for the firsttime into Japan. Electrical power
produced by the gas engines runs theelectric turbochiller to produce chilled water. The surplus electrical power isused to power the plant and is also sold to generate cost benefits.
The Wärtsilä gas engines not only produce high levels of efficiency but they also provide low costs of operation as natural gas costs less than fuel oil and the consumption of lubricating oil is at a minimum level.
A heat recovery system uses the gas engine’s waste heat to produce steam to power the engine’s waste heat boilers toproduce large amounts of steam which drives absorption chillers that produce chilled water. Additionally, no steam is Steam operations in Japan

Clever utilisation of steam is at the heart of the Makuhari District Heating and Cooling Centre located just outside Tokyo. Many consider it the perfect model of trigeneration.Wasted as it is actively used as a heat
source in all kinds of situations at theoperator’s facilities.
The beneficial aspectsSteam created by the furnace flue boiler becomes the heat source for customer’s heating and is also used as a heat source
for the steam absorption chiller.

Water tube boiler is operated primarilyto drive the steam turbine turbo chiller.
Heat generated during cooling of the gas engine is sent to the hot water absorption chiller to be used as a heat source for the air conditioning.
In addition, high temperature heat generated by the gas engine is used to
create steam at the heat recovery boiler,which is used as the heat source to produce chilled water for air conditioning at the steam absorption chiller.
The cooling towers are installed on the upper portion of the pyramid and serve to radiate heat generated to the chillers.
The district heating and chilling pipelines are installed in purpose-built culverts which run throughout the city
The tri-generation power plant contributes to the local environment by
significantly reducing CO2 emissions and preventing air pollution by reducing both NOx and SOx emissions.
The heating and cooling of buildings is, in many cases, installed by independent air conditioning systems. The buildings must each provide everything from installation of various heating and cooling sources to management, operation and maintenance.
On the other hand, district heating and cooling generates ‘heat’ such as chilled water and steam collectively at a single energy plant.
This is a centralised system that supplies this through pipes to multiple buildings located within a fixed area. By entrusting such matters to energy professionals, customers are able to use ‘heat’ that is safe,secure and environmentally-friendly.
A spokesman for the MDHCC told IPA:
“The concept of tri-generation is now a proven, cost effective alternative for a continuous supply of electricity, heatingand cooling needed all year round.”
www.wartsila.com
Internet link
IPA

Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 16th July 2009