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

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 semi-submersible will process gas from Scarborough before piping it to Woodside’s expanded Pluto LNG plant at Karratha for liquefication and export to offshore buyers. 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. “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, said by Woodside to be one of the biggest semi-submersible facilities ever constructed, 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 foundation train. It will also contribute 225 terajoules of gas per day for domestic consumption. 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). The partners argue Scarborough is needed to help avert a longer gas shortfall in the WA market and meet ongoing demand for LNG, particularly Asian markets. However, the project has become a lightning rod for climate activists opposed to the expansion of fossil fuel production. They argue the development is is incompatible with global carbon emission targets. Scarborough was approved during Meg O’Neill’s tenure as chief executive, but it will begin production under her successor. The American, a vocal advocate of gas as a transition fuel towards cleaner energy, resigned last month to take the helm of global oil and gas giant BP in London. Ms Westcott, who heads Woodside’s Australian operations, is one of three of four internal candidates to replace her, with others including international chief operating officer Daniel Kalms, chief commercial officer Mark Abbotsford or chief financial officer Graham Tiver. Woodside aims to name the new chief executive before the end of March. Ms O’Neill had led Woodside since April 2021, committing it to Scarborough, but also reducing the company’s reliance on Australia by guiding it through a 2021 merger with BHP Petroleum and leading a multibillion-dollar push into the US LNG and ammonia markets. Woodside shares closed nearly 2 per cent lower at $23.10 to value the group at $44.31b.