Our History

Learn about the history of Lochard Energy and the Iona Gas Plant

 Natural gas processing & storage

The Iona Gas Field was first discovered in 1988 and subsequently drilled, before being converted into a gas storage facility in 1998. The Iona Gas Plant was officially commissioned and began operations on 6 July 1999.

Lochard Energy was formed in December 2015 following the purchase of the Iona Gas Plant operations from Energy Australia, by a QIC led consortium.

Consisting of a natural gas processing and storage facility at Port Campbell in Victoria, Lochard Energy now exists as a midstream energy infrastructure business, complete with an experienced Board of Directors and Leadership Management team.

Over the years

The Iona Gas Field was first discovered in 1988 and subsequently drilled before being converted into a gas storage facility in 1998. The Iona facility was officially commissioned and began operations in July 1999.

Our History

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1988

Iona Gas Field discovered

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1992

Iona-1 completed for production through North Paaratte Production Station

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1994
Iona-2 completed for production through North Paaratte Production Station
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1998
  • Esso’s Longford Gas Plant had an extended Outage
  • Iona conversion into gas storage facility commenced
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1999
Commenced gas production operations into SWP
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2000
Commenced gas storage operations
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2003
Connection to SEA Gas Pipeline
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2004
Moomba Gas Plant extended outage (Iona main source of gas supply to SA)
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2006
Commenced Casino gas processing through Train 1
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2009
Gas storage operations at Wallaby Creek and North Paaratte Fields commenced
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2010
Addition of Train 2 increases processing capacity
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2013
Connected to Mortlake Pipeline
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2015
Acquisition by QIC managed funds – creation of Lochard Energy
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2016

Iona purchased by Lochard Energy

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2017
Iona-3 & 4 Well workovers
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2018
Drilling of Iona-7
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2019
Heytesbury acquisition
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2020
Project 570 Part C – Remote Upgrades completed
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2021
Project 570 Part A – Iona Gas Plant Upgrades completed
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2022
Phase 4 works and Seamer well completed
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2024
HUGS expansion commences