Australian LNG firm Woodside said it has started sending gas from its Pluto offshore field to the North West Shelf project’s LNG plant at Karratha ahead of schedule.
Woodside said in a statement on Wednesday this accelerated production of Pluto gas follows the start-up of the Pluto-KGP Interconnector.
The 3.2-kilometer pipeline connects Pluto LNG with the NWS project’s Karratha gas plant, providing access for other resource owners’ gas.
In addition, the start-up of the Interconnector supports the accelerated production of gas from the first phase of Pluto’s Pyxis Hub by enabling it to be processed at KGP, Woodisde said.
The first phase of Pyxis Hub achieved ready for start-up in October 2021.
2.5 million tonnes of LNG
KGP would process about 2.5 million tonnes of LNG in aggregate and approximately 20 petajoules of domestic gas from Pluto in the period 2022 to 2025.
Moreover, this follows the exercise by Woodside Burrup of a contract reduction option under the gas processing agreement it entered into with the NWS project participants in December 2020.
Woodside Burrup holds a 90 percent interest in Pluto LNG but also operates the Pluto LNG facilities.
The Karratha gas plant has five LNG trains with a capacity of 16.9 million tonnes per year. Also, it features domestic gas trains, condensate stabilization units, and LPG units.
Besides operator Woodside, other partners in the NWS project include Chevron, BP, Shell, BHP, and Japan Australia LNG.
Additional LNG cargoes into market
Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill said the accelerated production from the offshore Pluto fields through the Interconnector is a “significant achievement”.
“The start-up of the Interconnector provides access to spare capacity at KGP to process gas owned by other resource owners, both onshore and offshore Western Australia. The commencement of Pluto gas flowing through the Interconnector is the first example of this,” she said.
O’Neill added the processing of gas from the offshore Pluto fields through KGP enables Woodside to deliver additional LNG cargoes into the international gas market.