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Winthrop Professor David Lumley will give a free public lecture: Geophysical monitoring of WA natural gas and CO ₂ projects: balancing energy and environment at The University of Western Australia next Wednesday.

He will talk about how WA is poised to embark on several new world-class energy projects.

These projects include an investment of more than $250 billion in major offshore natural gas reserves in the Carnarvon, Browse and Bonaparte basins, of which Gorgon is the first. Developing these new gas reserves will require handling many millions of tons per year in naturally occurring CO ₂ , extracted during the LNG (liquefied natural gas) process.

To avoid releasing this CO ₂ into the atmosphere, which may be bad for both the environment and business, there is widespread interest in methods to dispose of the CO ₂ safely. Perhaps one of the best available options is to accelerate nature's course by re-injecting and storing it in deep rock formations, a process called ‘geo-sequestration.'

Professor Lumley will discuss ongoing research at UWA Geosciences in geophysical monitoring to help optimise recovery of the natural gas energy resource, and to monitor the integrity of the CO ₂ sequestration environmental process.

WHAT: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences free public lecture, Geophysical monitoring of WA natural gas and CO ₂ projects: balancing energy and environment

WHEN: 6.00pm, Wednesday 24 March

WHERE: The University Club (nearest carpark Hackett Drive, Entrance 1, Car park 3, Crawley)

Media references

Chris Hale (Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences)  (+61 8)  6488 1141
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716