Commercial production begins at Pluto project of Woodside
SYDNEY - Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (WPL), Australia's second-biggest oil producer, commenced commercial production of liquefied natural gas at its A$14.9 billion ($15.6 billion) Pluto project near Karratha in Western Australia after over a year's delay.
The Perth based company Woodside said Monday it would soon load its first LNG cargo for export to Japan on the Woodside Donaldson tanker.
First commercial production from Pluto comes just over a month after Woodside fed first gas into the project's gas-processing facilities, which currently has one train capable of producing 4.3 million tonnes of LNG a year.
Japan's Tokyo Gas Pluto and Kansai Electric Power are joint venture partners in Pluto, which was delayed several times by construction workers going on strike, labour shortages and the reinstallation of flare towers that were not cyclone-proof.
Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said the start of the project was a "momentous" announcement for Woodside and Australia.
"This project is very important to the energy industry and the national economy more broadly," he said, adding that 15,000 jobs were created during construction, pumping some Aus$ 7.6 billion into the economy.
Pluto is among around a dozen gas-export terminals planned in Australia, potentially catapulting the country ahead of Qatar as the world's largest exporter of LNG by the end of the decade.
For the 2011 calendar year, Woodside produced 64.6 MMboe and has forecast to produce between 73 and 81 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) in 2012, which includes output from Pluto.
Pluto is expected to contribute 17 to 21 (MMboe) to Woodside's 2012 production guidance and in steady-state, the project is forecast to add a long-term average of around 37MMboe to Woodside's annual volumes.
Chief executive Peter Coleman said the commercial start of Pluto cements Woodside's position as a major LNG supplier to the Asia-Pacific region.
"Execution of the Pluto LNG Project, from discovery of the gas field in 2005 to first LNG in 2012, demonstrates Woodside's significant offshore and onshore capabilities," he said.
Approved for development in July 2007, the foundation project processes gas initially from the Pluto gas field, located in the Carnarvon Basin about 190 km north-west of Karratha.
The initial phase of the project comprises an offshore platform in 85m of water, connected to five subsea wells on the Pluto gas field. Gas is piped through a 180km trunkline to the onshore facilities, which include an LNG processing train with a forecast production capacity of 4.3 million tonnes a year.
Woodside is currently exploring its options, which includes third-party gas, for the expansion of Pluto through a second processing train.
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