Woodside’s $16 billion Scarborough gas project readies for completion with arrival of huge production rig

Sean Smith
The Nightly
Scarborough floating production unit.
Scarborough floating production unit. Credit: Woodside Energy

Woodside Energy’s $US12.5 billion ($16b) Scarborough gas project is nearing completion with the arrival of the huge floating production unit over the remote gas fields, nearly 400km off WA.

Once hooked up to the project’s wells and pipelines, the 70,000t rig will process gas from Scarborough before piping it to Woodside’s expanded Pluto LNG plant at Karratha for liquefication and export.

Built in China, the FPU is 165m high from its keel to its top, or the height of a 50-storey office tower, and includes accommodation and other living facilities for a crew of 75.

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“Our focus now shifts to the hook-up and commissioning phase in preparation for production, and ultimately, first LNG cargo which is on track for the second half of this year,” acting Woodside chief executive Liz Westcott said.

The FPU left China in November, pulled by four large ocean towing vessels at an average speed of just four knots over the journey of 4000 nautical miles.

Scarborough will produce about 5 million tonnes a year of LNG from Pluto’s new second production train and up to 3mpta from the first train.

Woodside is the operator and 74.9 per cent owner of the project. The balance is owned by Japan’s JERA (15.1 per cent) and LNG Japan (10 per cent).

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