LNG

Clough, the Australian energy engineering company, said it achieved its first major concrete pour and first structural steel erection on site at the Waitsia 2 gas project being constructed for LNG production in the Perth Basin onshore Western Australia.

Clough won the engineering, procurement and construction work for the field near the town of Dongara, located about 350 kilometres (217 miles) north of the city of Perth and 65km south of the town of Geraldton.

Beach Energy of Australia and a subsidiary of Japan’s Mitsui and Co. each own 50 percent of the venture and Mitsui is the operator of the Waitsia field.

Beach and Mitsui have also finalized and signed key commercial agreements with shareholders of the North West Shelf LNG plant to enable LNG exports, with the State of Western Australia and the pipeline and project company, Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG).

Clough said the concrete pour at the site was a 14 cubic metres condensate storage slab and bund, which was followed later that same day by the first steel erection.

“This will form the main spine of the facility, a central 200-metre pipe track weighing over 100 tonnes,” Clough explained.

The start of full construction activities came a week after the first night of occupation at the recently completed temporary construction village.

“With bulk earthworks and piling now nearing completion, the project ramps up and hits its next phase of self-perform structural, mechanical and piping construction work,” said Clough.

The Waitsia gas field is ranked one of the largest gas fields ever discovered onshore in Australia and it is forecast to bring significant economic benefits to the Mid-West region from both construction and operating phases.

The Waitsia Stage 2 project includes a new gas processing plant with a 20-year life-cycle that will convey gas via the nearby Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline.

The Beach-Mitsui venture and Woodside Petroleum subsidiary, Woodside Burrup Pty Ltd, with gas from the Pluto gas fields, have become the inaugural third parties to sign binding commercial access agreements with the North West Shelf LNG partners.

The six NWS LNG partners are Australia’s Woodside and BHP, UK major BP, Chevron Corp., Royal Dutch Shell and a Japanese partnership comprising Mitsubishi Corp. and Waitsia gas shareholder Mitsui.

The Gas Processing Agreement and related agreements signed with the NWS LNG will enable up to 1.5 million tonnes of LNG per annum to be tolled and processed into LNG through the NWS facilities in Karratha between the second half of 2023 and the end of 2028.

Beach and Mitsui will each market their respective LNG equity interests independently of the NWS LNG plant partners.

Mitsui is already a long-standing LNG exporter while Beach will become an LNG player for the first time in the company’s 60-year history.

Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG) said it was close to starting up the Pluto LNG-to-Karratha Gas Plant Interconnector linking the two LNG export facilities in Western Australia operated by Woodside.

Australian engineering company Clough was awarded the contract for the second stage of development of the Waitsia natural gas field in onshore the Perth Basin of Western Australia and a future source of LNG exports.

Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG) said its final plan for Western Australia's Dampier-to-Bunbury natural gas pipeline for the 2021 to 2025 period was focused on providing excellent service and low costs.

Woodside Petroleum, the liquefied natural gas plant operator in Western Australia, said it had decided to advance with the pipeline project, the Pluto-North West Shelf Interconnector, to connect the Pluto LNG and the North West Shelf Karratha Gas Plant and had entered into contractual arrangements for the construction.

The Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG), one of the nation’s largest natural gas network and transmission companies, has successfully commissioned the Pluto Inlet Station, the new facility connecting the Pluto LNG plant in Western Australia to the Dampier-to-Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline.