Barrow Island (Western Australia)

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For other places with the same name, see Barrow Island (disambiguation)

Barrow Island from space, showing the Australian mainland on the bottom right (south-east) and the Montebello Islands to the north

Barrow Island is a 202 km² sub-tropical island 50 km northwest off the coast of Western Australia.

1 Discovery and early history
2 Environment
3 Energy reserves
- 3.1 Oil
- 3.2 Gas
4 References

[edit] Discovery and early history

Navigators had noted its existence since the early 1600's, and Nicholas Baudin sighted it in 1803, mistakenly believing it to be part of mainland Australia^[1]. Phillip Parker King named the island in 1816 after Sir John Barrow, a Secretary of the Admiralty and founder of the Royal Geographical Society.

The island contains no evidence of Indigenous Australians. Until last century the island remained un-inhabitated mostly because of a lack of water.

[edit] Environment

Barrow Island is noted for its flat spinifex grasslands spotted with termite mounds. No exotic animals have been established and so many rare and endangered species have flourished. Animals species that find shelter in this habitat include two species of turtle, bettongs, perentie (Australia's biggest lizard), the Barrow Island Wallaroo also known as euros or common wallaroos, the spectacled hare-wallaby, the golden bandicoot, green turtles, dugong and osprey.

[edit] Energy reserves

[edit] Oil

Oil was discovered on the island in commercial quantities in 1964 by West Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd (WAPET) and the first oil field was established shortly after^[2]. In 1995 there were 430 wells producing oil and natural gas. The site has been Australia's leading producer of oil.

Oil tankers are filled by a submarine pipeline that extends 10 km offshore. WAPET established a 200 room apartment complex for workers on the island.^[3]

[edit] Gas

Main article: Gorgon gas project

In December 2006, a development consortium between the Australian subsidiaries of Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell received environmental approvals from the Government of Western Australia to develop natural gas reserves adjacent to the island. Known as the Gorgon gas project, it will become Australia's largest resource project, producing 40 trillion cubic feet of gas^[4].