[/caption]Carol Forsloff - Chevron proudly has announced plans for further drilling in Australian deepwater areas, but it expresses qualifications that raise serious questions of intent, future problems, and environmental risks.
Australia is proudly moving forward on deep water drilling for natural gas. Some environmental groups protest the drilling in the eastern areas of the country, but for the most part these groups are silent about what is going on in the western regions.
Patterns of oil spills and pollution of water systems, however, doesn't seem to impact decisions like these to continue on in areas like Australia that is said to be poised to feed China's growing appetite for oil and gas.
This is where the company outlines its efforts. It is in the area of Carnarvon Basin offshore Western Australia, Australia’s premier hydrocarbon basin.
"The Clio-3 discovery well is located in the WA-205-P permit area approximately 90 miles (150 km) northwest of Onslow. Situated in 3,186 feet (971 m) of water and drilled to a depth of 14,137 feet (4,309 m), the well penetrated approximately 260 feet (79 m) of net gas pay. Clio-3 marks the third consecutive discovery on the Clio structure."
"We are continuing to invest in a significant exploration program to underpin the long-term growth of our Australian business. George Kirkland, vice chairman, Chevron, said. "Our continued success underscores the quality of our Australian portfolio and our technical competence"
This is followed by the exuberant praise of Jim Blackwell, president, Chevron Asia Pacific Exploration and Production Co., who added that the company is realizing the opportunities it has as a leading lease holder in the Carnarvon Basin, noting that, "Western Australia will play a key role in our long-term plans to build a leading natural gas business to supply energy safely and reliably to Australia and the Asia-Pacific. We expect this discovery, together with our previous discoveries in this permit area, to underpin expansion opportunities at the Wheatstone liquefied natural gas
hub" Big Oil is partnering in this effort, according to Webwire. Chevron, through its Australian subsidiary, holds a combined 66.66 percent interest, while Shell Development (Australia) holds the remaining interest. More tests are being conducted on data gathered from the discovery well, and additional work is required to determine the extent and commercial viability of the discovery.
There are some qualifiers to their "forward looking statements," however.
Chevron tells us their statements are "based upon management’s current expectations, estimates and projections; are not guarantees of future performance; and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond the company’s control and are difficult to predict."
These risks are outlined as changes in prices of, "demand for and supply of crude oil and natural gas; actions of competitors; the inability or failure of the company’s joint-venture partners to fund their share of operations and development activities; the potential failure to achieve expected net production from existing and future crude-oil and natural-gas development projects; potential delays in the development, construction or start-up of planned projects; the potential disruption or interruption of production and development activities due to war, accidents, political events, civil unrest, or severe weather; government-mandated sales, divestitures, recapitalizations and changes in fiscal terms or restrictions on scope of company operations; and general economic and political conditions."
Australia folks look at natural gas drilling as the alternative to oil, and China is a big target for its energy production, according to an Australian media outlet associated with ABC News.
None of these qualifiers speak of the processes of deep water drilling that have caused serious oil and gas accidents in Nigeria, the Gulf of Mexico and other vulnerable areas like north central areas of Louisiana where hydraulic fracturing is used for natural gas and has been found to contaminate water in areas where it has been used.
Chevron goes on to say, " You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Unless legally required, Chevron undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise."
In other words Chevron tells us if problems are found they have no responsibility to the public to update what they have said in their recent report.
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