Apache to Develop Macedon Field
Apache Corporation will proceed with development of the Macedon gas field in the Exmouth Basin in Western Australia. The project will commercialise natural gas from offshore production license WA-42-L, located 60 miles west of Onslow. First production is expected during 2013. Apache has a 28% interest and its share of the estimated $1.5 billion cost is approximately $430 million. BHP Billiton owns the remaining interest and will operate the project.
Four offshore production wells will supply gas to an onshore gas processing plant with a capacity of 200 million cubic feet of gas per day. After gas is processed at the facility, which will be located at Ashburton North, 11 miles southwest of Onslow, it will be sent via sales pipeline to the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline for sale in Western Australia’s domestic gas market.
“By introducing a new source of gas and a new processing hub, the Macedon development will provide much-needed gas to meet rising demand and increase the diversity of supply for Western Australia’s growing resource-based economy,” said Rodney J. Eichler, Apache’s co-chief operating officer and president – International.
Apache’s Varanus Island processing and transportation hub currently supplies approximately one-third of Western Australia’s domestic gas needs. The Devil Creek project, now under construction approximately 25 miles southwest of Dampier, will process gas from Apache’s Reindeer field with first production expected in the second half of 2011.