Australia's Woodside receives first Pluto 2 LNG modules

Australian independent Woodside Energy has received the first three of a total 51 modules for its $12bn Scarborough gas project in Western Australia (WA).

The modules, to be fabricated by US engineering and construction company Bechtel in Indonesia, will be shipped to the site of Woodside's 5mn t/yr Pluto LNG train 2 from the port of Karratha, the firm said on 21 February, adding the arrival marks a "significant milestone" for the project. It will be the second LNG production train along with the existing 4.9mn t/yr Pluto onshore facility. It will process most of the gas from Scarborough, which is targeting its first LNG cargo in 2026.

The existing train will process up to 3mn t/yr, Woodside has said, with an additional 225 TJ/d (6mn m³/d) of gas to be pumped into the domestic WA market, under state government rules requiring 15pc of gas from an LNG project to be sold locally.

Woodside said it had detected localised damage with a pipeline connecting Scarborough to Pluto following two separate incidents last month. But its contractor Italian firm Saipem has since been cleared to restart pipe laying following an investigation.

By Tom Major