The Macedon natural gas project in Western Australia (WA) has received BHP Billiton's approval for development. The gas field off the coast of Exmouth, North West Cape in WA, will receive $ 1.5 billion to be developed from BHP Billiton.
The project is a joint venture project between BHP and Apache Northwest. BHP Billiton owns 71.43 per cent of the project and Apache owns the remainder. The partners are hoping to produce commercial gas from offshore recoverable reserves to the tune of 450 billion to 750 billion standard cubic feet of gas.
BHP Billiton expects the first production from the Macedon gas field in 2013. This makes the company one of many which wish to exploit the shortage of domestic fuel supply to the mining sector in the state.
BHP Petroleum chief executive Michael Yeager said that the development of the Macedon gas field will improve Western Australia's gas supply security for both short and medium term goals. The development will consist of four offshore production wells, subsea gas pipeline, onshore treatment plant and sales gas pipeline.
Proposals to develop the project were subject to a comprehensive environmental assessment process that involved extensive consultation with the local community and other key stakeholders.