PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Oil and gas major Woodside on Thursday announced the processing of first gas from the offshore Pluto fields has started ahead of schedule at the North West Shelf (NWS) project’s Karratha gas plant (KGP).

This accelerated production of Pluto gas has been enabled by the startup of the Pluto-KGP Interconnector.

The Interconnector is a 3.2-km pipeline which connects Pluto LNG with KGP, providing access for other resource owners’ gas to be processed at KGP. The startup of the Interconnector supports the accelerated production of gas from the first phase of Pluto’s Pyxis Hub by enabling it to be processed at KGP, said Woodside on Thursday.

Startup readiness was achieved for the first phase of Pyxis Hub in October 2021.

KGP is expected to process approximately 2.5-million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in aggregate and approximately 20 PJ of domestic gas from Pluto between 2022 and 2025. This follows the exercise by Woodside Burrup of a contract reduction option under the gas processing agreement it entered into with the NWS project participants in December 2020.

Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill said the accelerated production from the offshore Pluto fields through the Interconnector is a significant achievement.

“The startup of the Pluto-KGP Interconnector provides access to spare capacity at KGP to process gas owned by other resource owners, both onshore and offshore Western Australia. The commencement of Pluto gas flowing through the Interconnector is the first example of this.

“The processing of gas from the offshore Pluto fields through KGP enables Woodside to deliver additional LNG cargoes into the international gas market.

“The commercial agreements underpinning third-party gas processing at North West Shelf reflect the commitment of Woodside and the NWS project to maximising value from the significant infrastructure on the Burrup Peninsula,” she said.

Woodside Burrup holds a 90% interest in Pluto LNG and operates the Pluto LNG facilities.