Australian LNG player Santos said the Wilga Park power station in northwest New South Wales has been connected to its natural gas appraisal wells near Narrabri through a new flowline.
The new flowline from the Dewhurst South natural gas wells means Santos can use this gas for electricity generation, eliminating flaring and reducing emissions.
This gas supply will enable Santos to increase the generating capacity of the Wilga Park power station from 12MW to 16MW, Santos said.
Narrabri natural gas already supplies Wilga Park to generate electricity to power the equivalent of 17500 households in northwest New South Wales and that will now increase to about 23000 households.
Santos managing director and CEO Kevin Gallagher said Santos is focussed on securing approval of the Narrabri gas project.
“The Narrabri gas project is currently being assessed by the NSW Department of Planning ahead of a decision of the NSW Independent Planning Commission. One hundred percent of Narrabri gas would go into the domestic market, potentially supplying up to half of NSW natural gas demand,” Gallagher said.
He added that the import terminals are not the answer, noting that the only way to have an energy advantage over other countries is to put in place strict environmental standards in order to produce as much of local energy resources as possible at as low a price as possible.
“Importing gas will lead to higher prices or shortages, particularly when LNG demand in Asia is high,” Gallagher said.
Santos has further plans to connect natural gas appraisal wells from another field, which could see Wilga Park power the equivalent of about 32000 households.