Trucks should convert to natural gas says analyst

Big truck fleets should take the lead and convert from diesel to natural gas, says Perth-based independent petroleum industry analyst Peter Strachan. "With natural gas (methane) less than a quarter of the price of diesel, there are massive savings to be made," he says. "For the one-off cost of establishing their own refueling stations, companies operating long-haul truck fleets could thumb their nose at diesel and petrol prices that are set to go in only one direction - upwards."

Mr Strachan says Australia is sitting on abundant reserves of natural gas - estimated to be more than 140 trillion cubic feet - which are earning big export dollars in the form of liquid natural gas (LNG). Western Australia relies heavily on gas for power generation and there are significant plants in Queensland, South Australia and Victoria. However, with escalating crude oil prices, there is a clear case for extending the use of gas in motor vehicles, says Mr Strachan.

"Besides being cheap, natural gas burns more cleanly than petrol and diesel and gives off much lower emissions. "Many motorists are already reaping savings from the use of LPG (a mixture of propane and butane). However methane-based natural gas is cheaper and burns even more cleanly. "Providing natural gas as an alternative fuel choice for cars would require an enormous investment in fuelling infrastructure. However it's not such a big problem for trucks and buses equipped with long-range tanks and access to fuelling depots, where they can use either compressed natural gas or LNG. "The conversion technology is available and some buses and trucks are using LNG in Western Australia. "Wesfarmers has recently commissioned a 175 tpd (tonnes per day) LNG plant in Perth, designed to supply remote power plants with fuel as well as fuel for the transport industry. "All that's required to extend the use is the entrepreneurial and political will."

Mr Strachan is a speaker at the 2008 South East Asia Australia Offshore Conference (SEAAOC) in Darwin in July, where gas will be a central focus of energy discussion.

CGGVERITAS opens new Asia-Pacific Headquarters

CGGVeritas, a global provider of geophysical services and equipment, today opened its state-of-the-art regional headquarters and data processing and imaging centre in Singapore. The event was officiated by the Minister of State for Trade & Industry, Mr. Lee Yi Shyan.

The decision to build the new Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore underpins CGGVeritas' long-term commitment to its businesses in the region. With the fast-developing economies of Asia-Pacific and the increasing demand for natural resources, the location is strategic for CGGVeritas to serve its clients and better position the company to strengthen its business in the regional oil and gas markets.

The new four-storey building has been built to CGGVeritas specifications in partnership with Ascendas, a premier provider of business space solutions and a subsidiary of JTC Corporation, Singapore's largest industrial landlord. The facility is located at Serangoon North Avenue 5, occupies 50,000 sq metres of industrial land, and took a year to complete.

The facility was designed with an open plan work environment to encourage teamwork and collaboration. CGGVeritas now employs 220 staff in Singapore, from over 10 nationalities, and foresees increasing its staff strength by 10 to 15% by year-end. The company has been in Asia Pacific and Singapore for 37 years and is proud of its many long-service staff.

The building houses CGGVeritas' data processing and imaging hub which is the largest and most powerful computer facility in Singapore. Large volumes of seismic data are processed around the clock to support clients' exploration and production projects in the region.

The hub features a highly sophisticated visualisation centre, powered by advanced compute capabilities, rapid data loading, high-speed networking and high-resolution graphics. The visualisation centre translates processed seismic data into graphic 3D representations of the Earth's subsurface to provide insight into the production potential of oil and gas reservoirs.

In addition to its data processing and imaging hub, the site is the region's Marine Acquisition Headquarters which supports and maintains the CGGVeritas seismic fleet operating throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr Robert Brunck, Chairman & CEO of CGGVeritas, said: "We chose to open this state-of-the-art Headquarters building in Singapore because of the continued growing importance of Asia-Pacific to the energy business worldwide and Singapore's close proximity to major clients in Malaysia, Australia, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, China and throughout the region. CGGVeritas is a technologically advanced company and the availability in Singapore of a broad spectrum of highly qualified professionals from all over the world and a robust IT infrastructure makes it an excellent location from which CGGVeritas can best support its Asia-Pacific clients."