Australia's mining thirst—GTL solution
Srinivas Shastri A , Stuart Kamper A , Tasneem Sonigra A , Terry Hill A , Jonathan Beales A and Hugh Reynolds AGHD
The APPEA Journal 52(1) 633-638 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ11052
Published: 2012
Abstract
The iron ore industry in WA consumes in excess of three million litres of diesel each day. This diesel is delivered to the mine sites either by rail up to the site load-out, or by a combination of rail and road. The use of mine transport corridors for transport of fuel not only adds significant costs, but it also has a considerable impact on safety.
This paper presents the case for the use of stranded gas not only to meet the power requirements of the mines located nearby, but also to meet the significant liquid fuel requirements of the mines. This can be achieved by the small-scale conversion of natural gas to diesel fuel through the well-understood gas to liquid (GTL) process. The construction of a GTL facility as a collaborative venture between a large operator and a stranded-gas developer could result in actual fuel cost savings of nearly 85%, with a positive return on investment in ten years. At the very least, dialogue is required between the major miners and stranded-gas developers.
Srinivas Shastri, B.Eng (Chemical Engineering), M.Sc, PhD, MBA began his career in the oil and gas sector as a process engineer in 1992 with Engineers India Limited. Since then, he has worked in a number of different countries. He has experience in process modelling and simulation across a range of practices. He has primarily been involved in onshore work after designing aromatic recovery units and being involved in the troubleshooting of process plants. He has considerable experience in the area of alternative energy technologies such as shale, coal and renewable energy processes. Shastri is also an adjunct senior lecturer at Murdoch University. Shastri.SitharamaRao@ghd.com |
Stuart Kamper, B.Sc (Aerospace Engineering), MBA has more than 35 years of project management and design experience, gained in a broad cross-section of industries, including oil and gas (onshore and offshore), refining, petrochemicals and chemicals. He has extensive hands-on experience with both green-field and brown-field projects, and a thorough understanding of specific engineering design and construction requirements. Stuart’s experience encompasses the full spectrum of engineering projects, from conceptual/basic design to detailed engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning. stuart.kamper@ghd.com |
Tasneem Sonigra, B.Eng (Hons) is a graduate process engineer in the oil and gas service department of GHD. Since joining, Tasneem has contributed to a range of projects. She has been involved in the preparation of PFDs and P&IDs. In addition to her process engineering role, she has been developing capabilities in safety and risk. Tasneem is part of GHD’s International Risk Group, where she works on consequence and risk modelling and assessment. She is familiar with the use of PHAST software, a key tool used for consequence modelling and quantitative risk assessments (QRAs). tasneem.sonigra@ghd.com |
Terry Hill, Higher National Diploma (Mechanical Engineering) has been heavily involved in the offshore and onshore contracting industry for 35 years, with significant periods spent in the UK, Brazil, the Middle East and Australia. During his career, he has progressed from project engineer through to project director/project manager and into general management. Terry also has significant business development experience. As a project manager he specialised in the successful establishment, management, and strategic direction of alliance contracts, typically engineering service contracts (ESC) and integrated service contracts (ISC). terry.hill@ghd.com |
Jonathan Beales, BEng (Chemical Engineering), is a chartered chemical engineer who has more than 22 years of engineering experience. He has worked in project, study and engineering management, process engineering design lead, process design and commissioning, trouble-shooting, HSE support, and site operations support design in both engineering and management roles in the oil and gas and associated industries. Jonathan brings a practical approach to ensure the primary technical, commercial and quality outcomes are achieved. jonathan.beales@ghd.com |
Hugh Reynolds has 27 years' professional experience in the oil and gas industry in various management positions including general manager, project manager, engineering manager and project engineer. This experience includes economic and feasibility studies, installation studies, front-end design, detailed design and EPC management of offshore and onshore oil and gas facilities. Extensive experience has also been achieved in operations management, business development, bid preparation, tender evaluation and contract negotiations. Work experience has been gained in Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, USA, India and the United Kingdom. Hugh now holds the position of Oil & Gas Service Group Manager at GHD Pty Ltd. |
