South Erregulla Conventional Gas Development Project in Western Australia aims to deliver low-cost onshore gas to the domestic market.

The onshore South Erregulla field is situated within PL 24 & EP 503, which is fully owned and operated by Australia-based Strike Energy.

The project development will comprise a gathering network of flowlines, a processing facility, and a gas pipeline connected to the third-party operated Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DBNGP).

In September 2023, Strike Energy received Production Licence - L24 for the South Erregulla gas field from the Department of Mines, Industry, Regulation and Safety.

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The company aims to commission the first phase of development in late-2024.

South Erregulla Field Location

The South Erregulla field lies Greater Erregulla region near the town of Dongara, 45km southeast of Dongara, in the Shire of Irwin in Western Australia. The site is nearly 350km north of Western Australian capital Perth.

The PL 24 & EP 503, in which South Erregulla is situated, is located adjacent to and south of Strike Energy’s 50% owned EP 469, which hosts the West Erregulla gas field.

According to WA's Environmental Protection Authority, the development envelope is 283.46-hectare (ha) with a disturbance footprint of 111.82ha.

Overall, Strike acquired 3,500ha of freehold farming land in the Three Springs Shire. The South Erregulla Field is located beneath the land. It will also host the Mid-West Low Carbon Manufacturing Precinct (Precinct).

South Erregulla Field Discovery and Appraisal

The gas field was discovered in 2022 following the acquisition and interpretation of the 2D seismic survey and the drilling of the South Erregulla-1 (SE1) exploration well.

The well identified 14m of net pay in the Permian-aged Kingia Sandstone and 4m of net pay in the basal Wagina Sandstone.

Strike commenced a multi-well Kingia and Wagina appraisal campaign at South Erregulla in 2023.

The SE2 well encountered the Kingia Sandstone at 4,843m measured depth (MD) and encountered a 45m of net pay, while SE3 encountered the Kingia Sandstone at 4,817m MD where a gross interval of 54m was observed.

In January 2024, the company plans to conduct a flow test SE2 and SE3.

The results of the campaign will be used to convert contingent resources in L24 to reserves.

South Erregulla Reserves

The South Erregulla gas field is estimated to hold 128 petajoules (PJ) of independently certified 2P reserves and 271PJ of net 2C contingent resources.

Infrastructure and Development

The South Erregulla Conventional Gas Development Project will involve the construction and operation of a processing facility with an export capacity of up to 40 terajoules (TJ) per day/ annualised; and the development of a gathering network of flowlines to transport the extracted dry natural gas from South Erregulla 1, 2, 3 and 4 wells to the processing facility.

The project will also involve building and operating the South Erregulla Gas Pipeline to send sales quality gas to the Dampier Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DBNGP) and eventually to the domestic market.

According to the company, the project is planned to be developed in three phases.

The first phase comprises an initial 40 TJ/d modular plant to support production from the existing 128PJ of net 2P Reserves.

In Phase II, expansion modules will be added to increase throughput to more than 80 TJ/d by targeting the 271PJ of 2C resources.

Phase III development involves the deployment of carbon dioxide purification and compression module to support the development of the Precinct’s carbon capture and sequestration.

The total estimated cost of the Phase I Gas processing facility is A$90m ($59m) excluding the cost of the export pipeline to the DBNGP.

Upon completion, the project is expected to have an operational life of approximately 30 years.

South Erregulla Gas Gathering and Processing Facility

The natural gas extracted from the four South Erregulla wells will be conveyed to the South Erregulla processing facility via four flowlines, with a length of 10km.

The facility will include well-site chemical injection skids, a slug-catcher, a liquids separation unit, mercury and carbon dioxide removal unit, gas metering, gas export filtration, condensate stabilisation and storage, truck offtake facilities and support utilities including power generation among others.

The gas processing facility will be connected to the DBNGP tie-in point via the 12km long South Erregulla Gas Pipeline.

Other Infrastructure

Power required for the construction and commissioning activities will be supplied through generators and serviced via third-party contractors. During operations, the project will receive power from an off-grid power system.

Water will be procured from an existing licenced production bore.

South Erregulla Gas Sales Agreements

In November 2023, Strike signed a long-term gas sales agreement with the Worsley Alumina Joint Venture for the supply of 36.5PJ of gas (at 20 TJ/day) from South Erregulla for five years.

The company also signed a medium-term gas sales agreement with Perth Energy which replaces the previous agreement announced in April 2022.  The new arrangement calls for a supply of 5.75PJ of gas (at 5 TJ/day) on a firm take or pay basis for three years.

Contractors Involved

Strike contracted Canada-based Enerflex to conduct engineering and provide a lump sum priced proposal for procurement and fabrication of the Phase I gas processing modules under an engineering, procurement and fabrication (EPF) contract.

Strike engaged managing contractor Nacap to perform a constructability study and develop a cost estimate for the export pipeline and connection into the DBNGP pipeline.

Hybrid Systems Australia deployed their LiDAR technology at the Precinct to capture the wind data to support future renewable energy infrastructure deployments.

Strike completed initial engineering for a 40 TJ/d modular and expandable gas plant with Technip Energies.