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Thursday, 4 November 2010

Tropical cyclones are a major hazard for the State's offshore gas and oil industry, much of which is based in the waters off WA's north-west coast.

A team of researchers from The University of Western Australia's Oceans Institute and Woodside Energy has been awarded a three-year Australian Research Council grant to help the oil and gas industry assess the impacts of cyclones on offshore projects.

The $559,000 grant was awarded to Winthrop Professor Greg Ivey, Assistant Professor Nicole Jones, Associate Professor Ryan Lowe, and Woodside Energy's Dr Geoffrey Wake and Jason McConochie.

The research project will focus on predicting the ocean's response to tropical cyclones, leading to improvements in the way the oil and gas industry designs and operates current and future offshore projects.

"The project will make direct measurements in the ocean and use this to develop numerical models to describe the intense stirring of the shelf waters caused by cyclones moving over the shelf," Professor Ivey said.

"The work will lead to a paradigm shift for the offshore oil and gas industry in developing their response to the hazards imposed by tropical cyclones."

The Federal Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr, announced the grant recently as part of ARC's major grants program for innovative research.

In all, UWA researchers secured almost $19 million in funding from the major grants program.

Media references

Winthrop Professor Greg Ivey (UWA Oceans Institute)  (+61 8)  6488 3528
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716

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