Australia’s Woodside Energy on Monday announced it had resumed work on the soon-to-be-commissioned Scarborough project offshore Western Australia, which is set to export LNG to global markets and supply gas to the domestic market.
This weekend, two Greenpeace activists climbed onto the gas platform at the Scarborough Energy Project, forcing a pause in the commissioning work with their unauthorized boarding of the facility.
After a weekend of standoff, the two protesters were safely removed from the facility and charged with interfering with offshore petroleum installations or operations, an offence carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment, the Australian Border Force, WA Police, and National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) said in a joint statement on Monday.
Woodside’s Scarborough Energy Project is located 375 kilometers (233 miles) off the Pilbara coast of Western Australia. The project comprises the Scarborough gas field, construction of Pluto Train 2, modifications to the existing Pluto Train 1 and the Integrated Remote Operations Centre (IROC) being built in Perth.
The Scarborough LNG facility is 98% complete. With a price tag of $12.5 billion, the facility is planned to produce some 8 million tons of liquefied natural gas annually, plus 6 million cum of natural gas, to be supplied to the domestic market. Per schedule, Scarborough was supposed to go into operation before the end of this year, but the two activists’ actions this last weekend may prompt a postponement, based on Woodside’s comments on the events.
Woodside targets first LNG cargo out of the project in the fourth quarter of this year.
The project includes the installation of a floating production unit (FPU) with eight wells drilled in the initial phase and 13 wells drilled over the life of the Scarborough gas field. Approximately 5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of Scarborough gas will be processed through Pluto Train 2, with up to 3 Mtpa processed through the existing Pluto Train 1.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com
- Data Centers Drive Surge in India’s Renewable Power Demand
- Iran War Set to Push PetroChina’s Trading Profit to Record $3 Billion
- Japan’s Electricity Prices Surge 25% as LNG and Coal Costs Soar
