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Woodside announced on Tuesday that the 70,000-tonne FPU completed the journey from China to Australia, after being towed more than 4,000 nautical miles.
The arrival of the FPU, which will process gas at the Scarborough field, marks a “significant step forward” for the Scarborough energy project, and builds on a long list of achievements in recent times, Woodside said.
Woodside acting CEO Liz Westcott said the Scarborough project is now more than 91 percent complete.
“Having the FPU, an integral component of the Scarborough energy project, safely in the field is a momentous way to begin 2026. Its successful arrival is a further demonstration of the Woodside, McDermott, and subcontractor teams’ collaboration and commitment to safe delivery of the project,” she said.
“At the start of 2025, the FPU hull and topsides were being constructed in separate yards. Since then, they have been integrated into a single unit and delivered into Australian waters, with work on securing the mooring lines underway,” Westcott said.
“Our focus now shifts to the hook-up and commissioning phase in preparation for production, and ultimately, first LNG cargo which is on track for the second half of this year,” Westcott added.
Pluto LNG
The FPU will be connected by a 433 km trunkline to a second LNG processing train at the Pluto LNG facility.
Moreover, Pluto Train 2 will process about five million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of Scarborough gas, and with some modifications to the existing Pluto train, up to three mtpa will be processed there.
In November 2021, Woodside took a final investment decision on the Scarborough and Pluto LNG Train 2 developments.
In 2024, Woodside revised the total project cost estimate to $12.5 billion ($8.2 billion Woodside share), a 4 percent increase from the previous cost estimate at FID of $12 billion.
Woodside holds a 74.9 percent participating interest and is the operator of the Scarborough JV.
Its joint venture participants are JERA at 15.1 percent participating interest and LNG Japan at 10 percent participating interest.
Also, Woodside holds 51 percent in the Pluto Train 2 JV and 90 percent in the Pluto Train 1 JV.
