LNG

Beach Energy Ltd, the Australian company involved in the Waitsia LNG export project in the onshore Perth Basin of Western Australia and in other natural gas ventures in South Australia and New Zealand, has embarked on a strategic review involving job losses and an executive overhaul.

KBR, the US energy and civil engineering company, has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction management contract by Australia’s Woodside Energy for the Pluto LNG project in Western Australia.

The task of KBR will be to undertake modifications to Train 1 of Woodside's Pluto liquefaction facility.

The Houston-based company explained that modifications will enable the processing of up to three million tonnes per annum of offshore Scarborough gas field through Train 1, while Pluto Train 2 is built in a separate project.

“KBR is pleased to support Woodside in the modification of the Pluto Train 1 LNG facility to enable processing of Scarborough gas, and in turn provide opportunity to extend the life of the plant,” said Jay Ibrahim, President at KBR of Sustainable Technology Solutions.

More jobs

“We are also excited to focus on engaging local and Indigenous businesses to support the project and proud to be creating jobs and opportunities within Western Australia,” Ibrahim stated.

KBR has nearly 50 years of experience in designing, developing and supporting LNG facilities. The company has overhauled existing liquefaction Trains at LNG plants worldwide.

The Pluto LNG onshore processing facility is located near Karratha in the northwest of Western Australia and the first cargo from the single-Train facility was delivered in 2012.

Woodside’s Pluto feed-gas supplies come from the Pluto and Xena gas fields. However, the additional Scarborough field will provide Train 1 with a longer lifespan as well as enabling the building of second liquefaction Train at the Pluto facility.

The second Train will have 5 million tonnes per annum of output and take total nameplate capacity of both Trains to at least 8.2 MTPA.

The Scarborough field is located about 375 kilometres off the coast of Western Australia and is estimated to contain 11.1 trillion cubic feet of dry gas.

Development of Scarborough includes the installation of a floating production unit (FPU) with eight wells drilled in the initial phase and 13 wells drilled over the life of the Scarborough field.

Equity sale

Woodside announced in August 2023 that it was selling equity in the Scarborough joint venture to LNG Japan Corp.

The Japanese company will also import LNG from the Scarborough volumes and collaborate in new energy opportunities. 

A sale and purchase agreement was signed with the LNG Japan entity for the sale of a 10 percent non-operating participating interest in the joint venture for $500 million, subject to adjustments. 

The Japanese venture will additionally reimburse Woodside for its share of expenditure for the Scarborough project, effective from 1st January, 2022.

LNG Japan is a 50-50 joint venture between Sumitomo Corp and Sojitz Corp., two of Japan’s seven largest general trading companies who are known in Japanese as the “sogo shosha”.

Chevron Corp., the operator of the Gorgon LNG and Wheatstone LNG plants in Western Australia hit by industrial disruption, said it would apply to Australia’s labour regulator to help resolve its dispute with unions currently causing partial strikes.

Warrego Energy Ltd, the Australian oil and gas explorer with natural gas assets in the onshore Perth Basin, said its board's recommendation of a takeover by a subsidiary of Hancock Prospecting Ltd. was no longer unanimous following a revised proposal from Australia’s Strike Energy amid an intense Australian company bid battle.

Woodside Energy, operator of the North West Shelf and Pluto LNG export plants in Western Australia, said the shareholders in the projects have agreed to process feed gas from the Equus gas field in the Carnarvon Basin.

Woodside Energy and the Ngarluma Aboriginal Corporation (NAC) have entered into a bilateral Indigenous Land Use Agreement and a modern benefits-sharing and relationship agreement relating to lands being investigated for the proposed Woodside Power Project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Woodside Energy, the operator of the Australian North West Shelf and Pluto LNG export plants, has published the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the latest export proposal from Western Australia.

The EIS was drawn up on the directions of the Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water .

The final EIS includes responses to comments received during the public consultation process held over an eight-week period from December 2019 to February 2020.

As operator of the proposed Browse-to-NWS Project, Woodside said it welcomed the publication of the final EIS as a milestone for the project.

The Canberra Ministry will now prepare its recommendation report and provide it to the Minister.

Liquefaction

The proposed Browse-to-NWS Project would send feed gas from fields in the offshore Browse Basin to be processed at the NWS facility's Karratha Gas Plant.

“Browse and the NWS Project Extension are expected to contribute to our communities for decades to come,” said Woodside.

“The proposed Browse-to-NWS Project could contribute to energy security in Western Australia and in the Asia-Pacific region, with production capacity of 11.4 million tonnes per year (LNG, LPG and Domestic Gas),” said the Perth-based company.

Woodside Chief Executive Meg O'Neill said moving into the assessment phase for the proposed Browse Basin project was a significant and positive step in the regulatory approval process.

The Browse Basin natural gas resources offshore Western Australia have been the subject of previous project suggestions, including floating LNG.

“The final EIS provides comprehensive detail of potential environmental impacts, proposed mitigations and management measures,” stated O’Neill.

“The processing of Browse gas through the Karratha Gas Plant could provide energy needed in Western Australia and overseas, while providing jobs and taxation revenue that support our host communities,” she explained.

Woodside noted that key work activities continued in support of progress towards front-end engineering design.

The company added that the corresponding State Environmental Review Document Response to Submissions would also be published once accepted by the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority.

Western Australian LNG operator Woodside Energy confirmed a first-half net profit after tax (NPAT) of US$1.64 billion with operating revenues surging 132 percent to US$5.81Bln after a more than doubling of commodity prices.

Woodside Petroleum said it could be time to revive the cancelled Browse LNG export project to use the vast natural gas reserves in the fields offshore Western Australia at a time of future global shortages as Europe breaks with Russia as a supplier.

The Woodside comments were made by Chief Executive Meg O’Neill in front of shareholders at the Woodside Annual General Meeting held at the Perth Convention & Exhibition Centre.

“The likelihood that major energy customers will continue moving away from Russian energy sources also strengthens the case for other undeveloped gas fields, such as Browse, to be brought on-line,” O’Neill told the meeting.

The Browse LNG project was previously planned using 13.3 trillion cubic feet of gas from the Browse Basin offshore northwest Australia.

An onshore export plant with an initial 10 million tonnes per annum of output had almost reached the design stage when it was cancelled by the Government.

“We are in this position of financial strength at a time of significant volatility in global commodity markets including oil and gas, exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” explained O’Neill.

“Against this backdrop of geo-political uncertainty, security of energy supply becomes ever more important. Reliable supply from Woodside’s established and emerging projects will be increasingly valuable to customers in our region,” she stated.

Pluto expansion

O’Neill also commented on current projects including the Pluto LNG expansion in Western Australia and the Sangomar oil project offshore Senegal in West Africa.

“Construction of the Pluto-KGP Interconnector pipeline between Pluto LNG and the Karratha Gas Plant was completed in late 2021, enabling processing of third-party gas to begin in March this year,” O’Neill told shareholders.

“The Interconnector links our two most significant producing assets, optimising production at both Pluto and KGP and providing us with optionality for the future,” she added.

“We also achieved ready for start-up for the first phase of Pyxis Hub, and for Julimar-Brunello Phase 2, which are important tie-backs for the Pluto and Wheatstone LNG projects respectively,” said the CEO.

O’Neill also noted that on the ground in Karratha, major civil works were well underway on the construction of an accommodation village for the Pluto Train 2 construction workforce.

“Manufacture of the Scarborough pipeline commenced in February and fabrication of the offshore floating production unit topsides is targeted to begin this quarter,” she said.

In West Africa, O’Neill declared that the Sangomar oil project in Senegal was on schedule.

“Construction of our Sangomar project offshore Senegal is progressing well, with the Phase 1 development close to 60 percent complete and on track for first oil in 2023,” she said.

“We have successfully drilled and completed the first four production wells and a second drill ship remains on schedule to commence drilling in mid-year,” added O’Neill.

She explained that conversion activities for the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit were progressing and the subsea installation campaign was scheduled to start later in 2022. 

Woodside Petroleum, the operator of the North West Shelf and Pluto LNG export plants in Western Australia, said first-quarter LNG sales revenues increased to US$2.04 billion from US$838 million in the prior-year quarter as plans advanced for liquefaction and feed-gas expansions.