Woodside secures final approval for NWS extension project

Woodside welcomed the Australian government’s final decision to grant environmental approval for the NWS project extension in a statement on Friday.

The Australian government has been considering a proposal to extend the operating life of the NWS gas plant in Karratha, Western Australia, beyond the expiry of its current approval in 2030, until 2070.

Woodside executive VP and CCO Australia Liz Westcott said the final Australian government approval followed an “extensive assessment and appeal process and included rigorous conditions
to manage the protection of cultural heritage.”

“This final approval provides certainty for the ongoing operation of the North West Shelf project, so it can continue to provide reliable energy supplies as it has for more than 40 years,” Westcott said.

The approval includes conditions that require additional monitoring and management of air emissions to protect the Dampier Archipelago (including Burrup Peninsula) National Heritage Place, Woodside noted.

Declining supplies

Earlier this year, Woodside completed the permanent retirement of the second LNG train at its NWS LNG terminal due to declining natural gas supplies.

This resulted in a reduction of the Karratha gas plant’s capacity from 16.9 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 14.3 mtpa.

Including the retired train, the plant has five LNG trains, launched between 1989 and 2008, and most of these volumes supply customers in Japan.

The facility also has domestic gas trains, condensate stabilization units, and LPG units.

Australia’s oldest LNG plant has been liquefying gas from fields located off the north-west coast of Australia since 1989.

However, these fields are slowly running out of gas and the project is now shifting its focus towards a different business model aimed at processing gas from third parties.

Back in 2022, Woodside started sending gas from its Pluto offshore field to the LNG plant at Karratha.

This accelerated production of Pluto gas followed the start-up of the Pluto-KGP interconnector.

Woodside operates both the NWS and Pluto LNG facilities. Its partners in NWS include BP, Chevron, Japan Australia LNG, and Shell.

In December 2024, Chevron and Woodside agreed to an asset swap under which Woodside will exit the Wheatstone LNG project and Chevron will sell its stake in the NWS project.

In addition, UK-based LNG giant Shell is considering selling its stake in the Woodside-led NWS project.