LNG

Woodside Energy, the leading liquefied natural gas operator in Western Australia, said the “Léopold Sédar Senghor” floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit had safely arrived off the West African state of Senegal for a key oil project.

“This is a significant step toward achieving first production from the Sangomar oil field which is targeted for mid-2024,” said Woodside.

The FPSO’s delivery for the Sangomar oil venture follows the arrival of an FLNG production vessel in November 2023 for a separate project run by UK major BP that will also benefit Senegal as well as its neighbour Mauritania.

Oil output nearer

The Perth-based company said that the arrival of the FPSO, named after the first President of Senegal, from Singapore to its final destination, located 100 kilometres (62 miles) offshore the Sengalese capital Dakar, marked the start of the next phase of the project.

Woodside will now help oversee the commissioning of the FPSO and the hooking up to the 23 production, gas and water injection wells that make up the Sangomar Field Development Phase 1.

Woodside Chief Executive Meg O’Neill said the Sangomar project was advancing to the company’s satisfaction.

“The FPSO arrival brings us closer to first production,” said O’Neill.

“We are proud to be Senegal’s first offshore oil project operator and firmly believe that this project will prove to be important to Senegal’s future development and prosperity,” O’Neill stated.

“In addition to developing Senegal’s energy resources, we have already begun working with the Government of Senegal, local businesses and communities to develop programs that create business opportunities, build local capabilities, foster employment opportunities, and bring broad economic benefits as a result of our operations,” O’Neill explained.

The Woodside CEO also praised the role of the Société des Pétroles du Sénégal (Petrosen),  the national oil and gas company, as a contracting partner in the venture.

The Sangomar Field Development Phase 1 includes the stand-alone FPSO with subsea infrastructure and an expected production capacity of around 100,000 barrels of oil per day.

LNG developments

Senegal is also separately involved in floating LNG joint ventures being developed by BP and Kosmos Energy along with the governments of Senegal and Mauritania in the offshore Greater Tortue Ahmeyim natural gas fields.

Seatrium Group of Singapore converted and delivered an LNG floating production vessel, the “Gimi FLNG”, to be stationed at a nearshore hub located on the Mauritania and Senegal maritime border, and is expected to begin production in 2024 as part of the first phase of the FLNG venture.

The “Gimi FLNG” was converted by Seatrium in a project in partnership with Norway’s Golar LNG from a 1975-built Moss LNG carrier with a storage capacity of 125,000 cubic metres.

It is designed for 20 years of operations on-site without dry docking, with a liquefaction capacity of 2.7 million tonnes per annum and is contracted to operate near shore in 30 metres of water depth.

Woodside Energy, the Australian operator of the North West Shelf and Pluto LNG plants in Western Australia, reported an increase in quarterly revenues due to higher realised prices and supported by record full-year production.

Woodside Energy, the operator of the North West Shelf and Pluto liquefied natural gas LNG plants in Western Australia, reported a plunge in third-quarter revenues as LNG prices dropped from the record levels of last year though increased by 6 percent from the previous three months of 2023 as Woodside also suffered a regulatory setback on the Scarborough gas project.

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 West Australian-based operator of the North West Shelf and Pluto LNG export plants, has decided to exit its 50 percent non-operated participating interest in the proposed Kitimat LNG (KLNG) development, located in British Columbia and previously more advanced than the LNG Canada joint venture.