Australian LNG player Woodside has signed another contract to supply LNG from the Pluto truck loading facility near Karratha in Western Australia.
According to a statement by Woodside, the firm signed the sales and purchase agreement with Pilgangoora Operations, a unit of Australian lithium and tantalite mining firm Pilbara Minerals.
Under the five-year deal, Woodside will supply about 3.4 terajoules/day on an ex-works basis from the Pluto truck loading facility.
The LNG player said it expects the SPA to start in the fourth quarter of 2024.
These LNG supplies will be used at Pilbara Minerals’ Pilgangoora lithium operation, located 300 kilometres east of Karratha, to replace diesel for power generation.
The Pilgangoora operation is one of the world’s largest hard rock lithium deposits, Woodside said.
Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill said “the supply of LNG to the Pilgangoora operation assists Pilbara Minerals to reduce power emissions intensity from its operations by reducing diesel use as it continues to supply the raw materials that are vital in the production of lithium batteries, used in consumer electronics, electric vehicles, and for large-scale energy storage.”
Woodside and its joint venture partner EDL started delivering LNG to customers from the Pluto truck loading facility back in 2019.
Located at Woodside’s Pluto LNG export terminal on the Burrup Peninsula, the facility can load up to 200,000 tonnes of LNG per year.
The duo signed a 10-year deal in April 2021 to supply trucked LNG to Strandline’s Coburn mineral sands project in Western Australia.
After that, Woodside and EDL also agreed two new supply deals with Abra Mining and Calidus Resources and last year with Australia’s Sheffield Resources and its partners.
Woodside recently completed the 1000th operation at the Pluto LNG truck loading facility.