PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Oil and gas major Woodside on Monday said that it had agreed a tolling price with mining major BHP for processing gas from the Scarborough offshore field at the Pluto liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility, in Western Australia.
The toll is based on BHP maintaining no more than a 25% interest in Scarborough up to a final investment decision.
Woodside CEO Peter Coleman told shareholders that the agreement on the tolling price for Scarborough was another significant step towards the realization of the proposed Burrup Hub.
“This agreement on tolling price, together with the increase in Scarborough gas resource announced earlier this month, provides a compelling and aligned basis for BHP and Woodside to finalise the required conditional binding agreements by the end of the first quarter 2020.”
Coleman said that it was a key milestone as Woodside targeted a go-ahead for the development of the Scarborough gas resource through an expanded Pluto LNG facility.
The gas would initially be processed through a deep-water floating production unit, before being transported through some 430 km of pipeline to be processed at the Pluto LNG facility.
The joint venture partners are expected to make a final investment decision by the first half of next year, with first LNG from Scarborough targeted for 2024.
The Scarborough field is currently estimated to host some 11.1-trillion cubic feet of gas.