Page 14 - GLNG Week 05 2021

GLNG AUSTRAL ASIA GLNG

Woodside agrees on Pluto gas supply for NWS

PROJECTS & AUSTRALIAN independent Woodside Petro- Woodside last month launched construction
COMPANIES leum has reached an agreement with Western work on infrastructure required at KGP as well
Australia on supplying natural gas from its as the 5-km Pluto-KGP interconnector pipeline.
Pluto field to the North West Shelf (NWS) LNG The interconnector will run along the existing
project. Dampier-Bunbury pipeline and is slated to start
Woodside said on January 29 that the NWS up next year.
consortium had signed an arrangement with the Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said: “Con-
state government on the processing of feed gas at necting the Pluto and NWS facilities accelerates
the project’s Karratha Gas Plant (KGP). the production of offshore Pluto gas and pro-
Woodside operates NWS with a 16.67% stake, vides flexible access to emerging LNG process-
while BHP Billiton, BP, Chevron, Japan Australia ing capacity. The Pluto-KGP Interconnector is
LNG (MIMI) and Royal Dutch Shell each also the first step in realising our vision for a regional
hold 16.67% of the project. Woodside also owns LNG hub on the Burrup Peninsula.”
a 90% stake in Pluto LNG and operates the Pluto “As the world continues to respond to
LNG facilities. COVID-19 and volatile market conditions, it
The developer noted that the NWS partners is critical that operators and government work
had agreed in December 2020 on using KGP to together to grow the gas industry, create local
process around 3mn tonnes of liquefied nat- jobs and establish Western Australia as a global
ural gas (LNG) and 24.7 petajoules (643.4mn LNG hub,” he added.
cubic metres) of domestic gas between 2022 In announcing an expanded LNG supply deal
and 2025. with Germany’s Uniper Global Commodities in
Woodside said it had also agreed with the mid-January, Woodside said it was nearing a
Perth government to market an additional 45.6 final investment decision (FID) on the AUD16bn
PJ (1.19bn cubic metres) of domestic gas from its ($12.32bn) Scarborough project, which will feed
existing NWS equity position from 2025. a second LNG train at Pluto.™

Chevron reports reduced production

at Wheatstone LNG

PERFORMANCE SUPER-MAJOR Chevron has said its Wheat- A 140-mile (225-km) pipeline connects the
stone LNG plant is operating below capac- offshore platform with the onshore liquefaction
ity while repairs are carried out on an inlet facilities.
separator. According to officials speaking For the rest of the year, the Wheatstone plant
on Chevron’s fourth-quarter earnings call, is expected to be back up to full capacity until
Wheatstone LNG is operating “modestly” planned maintenance begins late in the third
below capacity. quarter and continues into the fourth quarter,
Chevron temporarily shut a unit that sep- Chevron’s CEO, Mike Wirth, said on the earn-
arates natural gas and associated liquids at the ings call.
Wheatstone offshore processing platform in While the issue at Wheatstone is not a signif-
late 2020 after discovering an issue during rou- icant one, it adds to a separate outage Chevron is
tine maintenance. However, Chevron does not dealing with at Gorgon LNG, also in Australia.
expect production impacts to last beyond the Train 1 at Gorgon is currently offline for repairs
first quarter of this year. to its propane heat exchangers – or kettles –
Wheatstone’s full capacity is 8.9mn tonnes though the company said these were nearing
per year (tpy) of LNG from two liquefaction completion.
trains. The project is an ambitious one, with Repairs on Train 1 follow similar work car-
Chevron saying on its website that the platform ried out on the propane kettles on Train 2 last
is the largest offshore gas-processing facility ever year. Once Train 1 is returned to service, Train
to be installed in Australia, with a topside weight 3 at Gorgon will be taken offline for inspection
of about 37,000 tonnes. The company says it is and any necessary repairs. This maintenance on
also the largest float-over installation it has ever Train 3 is anticipated to take place in the second
delivered globally. quarter, according to Wirth.™

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 05 05•February•2021