West Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd (WAPET) was a pioneer

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

and

gas Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...

exploration and processing company in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

History

Formed in March 1952 as a joint venture between

Caltex Caltex is a petroleum brand name of Chevron Corporation used in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, and Southern Africa. Headquartered in Singapore, it is also the brand name of non-Chevron petroleum companies in some countries (such as ...

and

Ampol Ampol Limited is an Australian petroleum company headquartered in Sydney, New South Wales. Ampol is the largest transport energy distributor and retailer in Australia, with more than 1,800 Ampol-branded service stations across the country . Amp ...

, the company discovered

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

's first flowing oil in November the following year, at

Rough Range Rough Range is a location in Western Australia where oil was discovered during an exploration drilling programme in 1953. West Australian Petroleum (WAPET) drilled its first well at Rough Range near North West Cape North West Cape is a penins ...

on the

North West Cape North West Cape is a peninsula in the north-west of Western Australia. Cape Range National Park, Cape Range runs down the spine of the peninsula and Ningaloo Reef runs along the western edge. It is in the Gascoyne region and includes the town of ...

. The first oil discovery in Australia was made near

Lakes Entrance Lakes Entrance is a town in the Shire of East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. It is situated approximately east of Melbourne, near a managed, artificial channel connecting the Gippsland Lakes to Bass Strait. At the 2016 census, Lakes Entrance ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

in 1924. The Rough Range well flowed with

heavy crude oil Heavy crude oil (or extra heavy crude oil) is highly viscous oil that cannot easily flow from production wells under normal reservoir conditions. It is referred to as "heavy" because its density or specific gravity is higher than that of light cr ...

, initially at per day from a depth of 1099 metres, but further drilling in 1954 demonstrated the discovery to be small with low flow rates and it was deemed to be not commercial.

Dongara

In 1964 WAPET discovered the first commercial

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

field in the state, at Dongara in the

Perth Basin The Perth Basin is a thick, elongated sedimentary basin in Western Australia. It lies beneath the Swan Coastal Plain west of the Darling Scarp, representing the western limit of the much older Yilgarn craton, and extends further west offshore. ...

. The Dongara field is now wholly owned by Arc Energy and has produced of LNG to August 2007. The Dongara discovery resulted in the construction of the first gas pipeline in Western Australia, from Dongara to Pinjarra in 1971 by a WAPET subsidiary, West Australian Natural Gas (WANG). Also known as the Parmelia Pipeline, it comprises 416 km of 350 mm diameter pipe.

Barrow Island

The company was joined by Shell Development as a partner in 1964 and shortly after, the joint venture made their major find, on Barrow Island. Despite an expectation of likely oil deposits,

Barrow Island Barrow Island or may Barrow Island''s'' refer to: * Barrow Island, an island located in Western Australia * N. and S. Barrow Islands, a pair of islands located in Queensland, Australia * Barrow Island, a former island in Barrow-in-Furness, Englan ...

had had Government bans on drilling and exploration due to the 1952 atomic bomb testing on the nearby

Montebello Islands The Montebello Islands, also rendered as the Monte Bello Islands, are an archipelago of around 174 small islands, about 92 of which are named, lying north of Barrow Island (Western Australia), Barrow Island and off the Pilbara region of W ...

. The bans were lifted in 1953 and WAPET was granted exploration permits. The drill hole "Barrow-1" flowed with heavy crude and proved to be a significant discovery. After $100 million had been spent on further exploration and development, the find led to commercial production in 1967. In 1966 it was estimated to have recoverable reserves of and after production started in April 1967, estimated reserves were increased to . In 1995 there were 430 wells producing oil and

across most of the southern half of the island. At one stage, the site was Australia's largest oil producer. As a result of the success at Barrow Island and other finds, extensive off-shore exploration in the

Carnarvon Basin The Carnarvon Basin is a geological basin located in the north west of Western Australia which extends from the Dampier Archipelago to the Murchison bioregion, and is the main geological feature that makes up the North West Shelf. The onsho ...

was undertaken by Australian and American oil companies during the late 1960s and 1970s. WAPET discovered a significant gas deposit at West Tryal Rocks, north west of Barrow Island in 1973, and in 1980 the Gorgon gas deposit. The region is now known as "Greater Gorgon" and will be developed in coming years as the

Gorgon gas project The Gorgon gas project is a multi-decade natural gas project in Western Australia, involving the development of the Greater Gorgon gas fields, subsea gas-gathering infrastructure, and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on Barrow Island. The p ...

, operated by

Chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock la ...

, WAPET's successor. LNG reserves in the Greater Gorgon fields are estimated to exceed .

Chevron Australia

After the merger of Caltex Australia and Ampol in 1995, WAPET was replaced by Chevron Australia Pty Ltd in February 2000.Chevron.com
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wapet Companies based in Perth, Western Australia Energy in Western Australia North West Shelf Defunct oil and gas companies of Australia Economy of the Pilbara

History

Dongara

Barrow Island

Chevron Australia

See also

References