PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Joint venture partners Strike Energy and Talon Energy have been awarded a production licence for the Walyering gasfield, from the Western Australian Minister of Mines and Petroleum.

The two companies last year took an investment decision on the A$14.4-million Walyering gas project, in the Perth basin.

The development will consist of the completion of the Walyering 5 and 6 wells, with production processed on-site through a facility designed to process 33 TJ/d of gas and separate between 150 and 300 bbl/d of condensate which will be diverted to onsite storage, amounting to some 1 400 bl, making it available for delivery to point of sale via truck transport from the Brand Highway.

Gas production will initially be tied into the nearby Parmelia gas pipeline, with an ongoing review into the feasibility of connecting into the Dampier to Bunbury natural gas pipeline at a later date.

Strike said on Thursday that the granting of the production licence was on the critical path and represented a key milestone for the development and subsequent startup of the Walyering gasfield. 

"The Walyering gasfield continues to tick off key milestones on its path towards initiating gas production and maiden free cashflows for Strike,” said MD and CEO Stuart Nicholls.

“The timing of this new gas production is critical to Western Australia with several usual supply sources currently shut in or production below nameplate capacity due to unplanned downtime or reserve issues.

“This supply dynamic has resulted in the forced reduction of demand and curtailment of several key gas customer’s industrial operations.”

Strike noted that a total of 98% of the procurement programme for the upstream facility is complete with 65% of fabrication having been completed. The upstream facility remains on budget and schedule for commissioning and startup by the end of the first quarter of this year.

Talon MD and CEO Colby Hauser said that with a gas sales agreement recently finalised, the project continued to complete major milestones at pace.

“The grant of the Walyering production licence is a key approvals milestone in Walyering’s development pathway. To date, all approvals have been granted in line with expectations and previous guidance. Additionally, the development and construction work is on schedule, with the well completions for both the Walyering 5 and 6 wells scheduled to commence in February, and offsite fabrication of the upstream processing facility now 65% complete.

“Talon is pleased with the progress of the project to date, and we look forward to welcoming the near-term free cashflow generated from production of the field,” Hauser said.