Empire Energy acquires AGL’s Rosalind Park gas plant for A$2.5mn

Empire Energy has acquired AGL’s Rosalind Park gas plant (RPGP) for A$2.5mn ($1.67mn) in cash to support the Carpentaria gas project in Australia’s Northern Territory, it said on December 4.

The RPGP has a design capacity of 42 TJ / day and supported AGL’s Camden gas project until it ceased production in August 2023. As part of Camden decommissioning, AGL disassembled and preserved the RPGP, following which Empire transported the entire equipment suite to storage facilities in Roma, Queensland. These storage facilities are proximal to service providers where the RPGP will be refurbished in advance of transportation and reassembly at the Carpentaria pilot project in 2024, Empire said.

Empire estimates that the acquisition of the RPGP may result in more than A$30mn in cost savings and reduce lead time by about 12 months compared to new build alternatives. Empire said it is focused on reaching a final investment decision (FID) for the pilot project in the coming months.

"Empire is now well positioned to meet its timeline for 2025 first gas subject to regulatory approvals and FID," it said. 

Recently, Empire signed an initial agreement with APT Management Services, a unit of APA, to establish midstream gas infrastructure early works and partnering agreements. 

Central to this agreement is APA's commitment to inject up to A$5mn in engineering and design concepts for midstream gas infrastructure facilities. These facilities will be associated with Empire's Carpentaria pilot project in Northern Territory's Beetaloo sub-basin, which envisions the development of a midstream infrastructure with the capacity to transport a 25 TJ/day of gas to the market.