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Royal Dutch Shell has made major investments in developing conventional and unconventional natural gas resources in several parts of the world, building LNG terminals to prepare it for distant markets, develop the first floating LNG facility and develop new methods to convert natural gas into liquid fuels.

“Tropical Storm Tim formed over the Coral Sea on March 13, 2013, and remained off the coast of northeastern Australia for the next four days. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image of Tim on March 17. Although lacking a distinct eye, Tim still had the spiral shape characteristic of strong storms.” Quoted from NASA’s Earth Observatory image release.

The Cooper Basin in Australia’s outback has attracted major investments from several energy companies. Gas produced there would be sent by pipeline to an LNG facility on the coast for export.

The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder is a new radio telescope that will produce so much data that a supercomputer capable of one quadrillion floating point operations per second will be needed to support it. The project leaders have decided to cool the supercomputer with a closed-circuit geothermal cooling system that will operate on ground water.

Chevron will acquire rights to 810,000 acres of potential shale gas property along pipelines out of Australia’s Cooper Basin and connecting to natural gas export facilities on Australia’s eastern coast.

Chevron has made another major natural gas discovery off the west coast of Australia. This one is outside of the Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG areas and could be the start of another LNG project.

Several factors work together to determine the annual value of Australia’s diamond production. The output of mining operations, the quality of the stones, world diamond prices, and the relative strength of the Australian Dollar against other currencies are major factors in the annual value.

A new report reveals that generating electricity from wind in Australia costs much less than generating by natural gas or coal. This means that Australia might have even more coal and natural gas for export.

Shales of the Stuart Range and Boorthanna Formations of Australia may contain trillions of dollars worth of oil. Studies need to be done to determine if the oil can be produced economically.

This video shows a large landslide with impressive runout on Mount Dixon in the Mount Cook National Park of New Zealand. For detailed comments, maps and photos visit The Landslide Blog.

A guy with a metal detector found a 5.5 kilogram gold nugget near the city of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The nugget has an estimated value of about $282,000 based upon its gold content but a collector might be willing to pay more because it is such a unique specimen.

Many energy companies would like to export natural gas as LNG from the United States to countries where market prices are much higher. However, United States manufacturers object because they fear that LNG exports will raise domestic prices.

Not mentioned in the FuelFix article are: 1) many new conventional gas discoveries in Africa, Australia, South America and Indonesia that could compete with LNG exports from the United States; 2) the enormous untapped shale gas potential in other parts of the world; and, 3) natural gas throughout the world that is currently being flared. Will LNG export terminals for United States gas make economic sense five years from now?

Chevron is the largest holder of natural gas resources in Austraila. Their Gorgon LNG Project and Wheatstone LNG Project are both located on the northern coast of Australia with easy access to Asian natural gas markets.

Anadarko and Eni reached an agreement to develop an LNG facility on the northern shore of Mozambique to export natural gas from three large discoveries in the Rovuma Basin.

Large gas discoveries with LNG plants are being developed in Africa, Asia and Australia. Will there still be a market for all of the LNG proposals brewing in the United States?

Although many groups oppose large-scale natural gas exports for a variety of reasons, a government study finds that the exports would be a net benefit to the economy.

We wonder if there is going to be an oversupply of LNG because several large LNG plants with dedicated gas fields are being built off the coasts of Africa, Australia and Indonesia – and the same shale bonanza that occurred in the United States has yet to begin in other parts of the world. US LNG could arrive late and at a transport disadvantage.

An article in The Sydney Morning Herald reports that tour operators are hoping for a volcanic eruption that will attract visitors to New Zealand.

Fossil fuels play an enormous role in Australia’s economy. However, their roles will change significantly with new carbon taxes and a goal of cutting emissions to 80% below 2000 levels by 2050.

Chevron’s Gorgon natural gas project is one of the largest natural gas projects in the world and the largest single resource natural gas projects in Australia’s history.

“Investigations by a University of Canterbury researcher have found that the Alpine Fault’s last rupture almost 300 years ago reached a magnitude of approximately M 8.1.”

An article TheAge.com.au website in titled “Shock and Awe” explores some of Australia’s earthquake history and trivia.

A pig on the island of Tofua in the Tonga archipelago triggered a “volcanic eruption” that was powerful enough to cause aviation concerns.

This event is listed in the volcanic advisories under “Wellington VAAC“). It should be listed until about August 18th local time.

2006 Pumice Raft in the Tongas

A massive pumice raft (250 x 30 nautical miles) has been found floating on the surface of the South Pacific Ocean about 85 nautical miles west of Raoul Island.

A study done by Geoscience Australia estimates Australia’s natural gas resource at about 390 trillion cubic feet. The country’s offshore resources is being aggressively developed by projects that are expected to produce LNG that will be exported to Asia.

Rio Tinto is looking for buyers for three diamond mines. A 100% stake in the Argyle Mine in Australia that is famous for its pink diamonds, a 60% interest in the Diavik Mine in the Norwest Territories of Canada that is famous for it’s extremely high ore grade, and the smaller Murowa Diamond Mine in Zimbabwe.

“Heavy rains soaked northeastern Australia in February and March 2012, with some areas receiving more than 1,500 millimeters (59 inches) of precipitation. This image shows rainfall, as observed by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, over parts of Queensland, Northern Territory, and the Gulf of Carpentaria. The date range is from February 22 to March 23, 2012.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory image release.

“Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated means of 4.7 billion barrels of undiscovered oil and 227 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas in major offshore petroleum basins of Australia.” Quoted from the USGS press release.

Low diamond prices and a strong Australian dollar have caused problems for the Australian diamond and gemstone mining industry for the past five years (see graph below). Could 2012 be a year of change?

Related: World Diamond Production     How Do Diamonds Form?

Google is going to sponsor the Catlin Seaview Survey and help them create virtual dives on the Great Barrier Reef that can be viewed online.

“Severe flooding affected multiple communities along Australia’s Queensland-New South Wales border in early February 2012. On February 5, 2012, the Australian Associated Press reported that several thousand residents were isolated from the outside world by an inland sea.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory image release.

Heavy rain in Queeensland, Australia has thousands of people evacuating homes along the Balonne River.