Woodside's 100%-owned Pluto gas field, about 190km north-west of Karratha in Western Australia, underpins the proposed Pluto LNG Project. The current best estimate dry gas contingent resource is 4.1 Tcf. Another field, Xena, which has been discovered in the same permit, has estimated gas resources of 0.4 trillion cubic feet. Development concept for the project includes an offshore platform, deepwater flowlines, a 36" trunkline to shore, up to two LNG processing trains with capacity of five to six million tonnes a year, loading jetty and associated infrastructure. The Burrup Industrial Estate on the Pilbara coast is the selected location for the onshore facilities.

The onshore plant is being designed for two industrial sites just south of the existing North West Shelf Venture which Woodside operates. Industrial Lease Area A, also known as Site A, covers about 60ha and includes the LNG storage tanks. Industrial Lease Area B, also known as Site B, covers about 140ha and includes the major plant and LNG processing facilities. Of the total area of the Pluto leases, plant and facilities will cover about 80ha.

The onshore scope includes a reception terminal including a pig receiver, slug-catcher and MEG (Mono Ethyl Glycol) regeneration facility. Condensate will be stabilised and stored onsite. Light ends will be dehydrated prior to mercury and CO2 removal. The LNG will be transferred to two large insulated storage tanks located on a site adjacent to the main process facilities, and from these storage tanks along a loading jetty onto LNG tankers. Civil works scope consists of site preparation for storage and the plant and dredging of the shipping channel. BGC has been contracted to do site preparation of Industrial Site A.

The engineering for the onshore portion has been awarded to the Foster Wheeler and WorleyParsons consortium. The Foster Wheeler - WorleyParsons group is carrying out studies for an LNG plant using the Shell Global Solutions technology. FWW will also design the utilities for the LNG plant, including power generating capacity in the range of 90 to 120MW.

The Pluto fixed platform will sit in 85m water depth, and comprise topsides weighing some 4000 tonnes plus a substantial jacket. The platform will feature minimal facilities to minimise the operation and maintenance. It will have no processing capability, and will feature multiple risers and J-tubes for production and compression. The platform will act as a hub for gas gathering from other fields. Other facilities might include a bridge connection to a future compression platform. The offshore FEED for the platform and facilities has been awared to the EoS joint venture between KBR and WorleyParsons.

China's Chiwan Sembawang Engineering has won the contract to build the 8000-tonne riser platform jacket. Chiwan is also the jacket fabricator for the production platform on the Woodside-operated Angel gas project.

Pluto subsea component comprises of a 180-kilometre 36" export pipeline, seven production wells in water depths of between 400 and 1000 metres, two large manifolds, and about 25 kilometres of flowlines between the manifolds and platform. The trunkline will be routed through Mermaid Sound to a shore crossing at Holden Point. The pipeline will be stabilised by concrete coating and will be trenched or rock dumped for some of its route. The shore crossing will be trenched and backfilled to a level below the minimum tide and will be buried for the onshore section


The engineering for the subsea trunkline and flowlines has been awarded to J P Kenny. Allseas is set to install the 36" carbon steel trunkline with its giant new pipelay vessel Audacia, which is being built at the Keppel Verolme yard in the Netherlands and is due for delivery in mid-2007. The dynamically-positioned Audacia will be 225 metres in length and 32 metres wide. Pipeline installation will be targeted for late 2009.

Aker Kvaerner had been awarded a Nkr105 million (US$19.1 million) contract to supply steel tube umbilicals. The contract follows an announcement that Aker Kvaerner had signed a three-plus-one-plus-one-year frame agreement with Woodside to become the Australian oil and gas giant's preferred supplier of steel tube umbilicals. The contract is for the supply of 28 kilometres of static umbilicals to the Pluto gas field. The umbilicals will be manufactured and delivered out of Aker Kvaerner Subsea's facility in Moss, Norway. Delivery is scheduled for July 2009.

Grenland Group has signed a letter of intent with FMC Technologies in Kongsberg for the fabrication, assembly and testing of subsea structures that will be part of FMC's delivery. The contract has a value of approximately NOK 70-75 million in revenue to Grenland Group. The subsea structures to be fabricated and assembled by Grenland Group, will have a total weight of over 700 tonnes. The subsea structures shall be fabricated at Grenland Group`s yards in Grenland, Norway. The delivery of the subsea structures is scheduled for spring 2009.

Woodside Petroleum has approved the A$11.2 billion (US$9.8 billion) Pluto liquefied natural gas project in Western Australia on 27 July 2007. Work on the project has been underway since December 2006 when the board approved initial funding for long lead items and site preparation. Site preparation has been underway since January 2007, after Woodside received environmental and heritage approval to begin work on the project’s storage tanks and export facility. Preparation works for the gas processing plant, where the production train will be located, also began.

The project will create up to 3000 direct jobs during construction and up to 200 jobs during operations. A further 3000 indirect jobs will also be created, mostly in Western Australia. LNG shipments could begin from late 2010, targeting the Asia-Pacific and North American markets.