Petroleum Industry in Western Australia

The petroleum industry in Western Australia is the largest contributor to Australia's production of most petroleum products. Based largely on development of the reserves of the North West Shelf and other onshore hydrocarbon basins, the industry extracts crude oil, condensate and natural gas from petroleum reservoirs deep beneath the Earth's surface. A large plant located at Withnell Bay near Dampier, produces liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export to Asian customers. Crude oil and most petroleum liquids are exported, and Australia's largest petroleum refinery at Kwinana in WA's south-west, produces petrol and diesel for local consumption. Natural gas is processed at plants located on islands off the WA coast and onshore, then transported by pipelines to gas users throughout the state.

In 2007, the industry produced 126 million barrels (20,000,000 m3) of crude oil/condensate, and 30 billion cubic metres of gas. 65% of the gas was transformed into 12 million tonnes of LNG (all of which was exported), with the remainder of the gas being sold to users in Western Australia. Primary production by the industry was valued at $16.7 billion, accounting for 31% of all natural resources produced in the state.