Deals signed for processing of Browse, Clio-Acme gas via NWS facilities

Woodside-led North West Shelf Joint Venture has signed preliminary agreements with the Browse Joint Venture (also led by Woodside) and Chevron, the leaseholder of the Clio-Acme fields, for the processing of their respective offshore gas resources through the North West Shelf (NWS) facilities on Western Australia’s Burrup Peninsula.

As mentioned before, both Browse and the NWS project are operated by Woodside. Browse resources, consisting of the Brecknock, Calliance and Torosa fields, are located offshore, 425 km north of Broome in Australia’s North West.

Woodside’s partners in the project are Shell, BP,  Japan Australia LNG, and PetroChina International Investment (Australia) Pty Ltd. The Browse resources are estimated to contain gross (100%) contingent resources (2C) of 16.0 Tcf of dry gas and 466 MMbbl of condensate.

The NWS is a joint venture between six major international companies and it includes a portfolio of oil and gas fields within the North West Shelf Project Area.

Commenting on the agreements signed, Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said on Tuesday the preliminary agreements were a key step toward realization of the Burrup Hub concept, which will extend the operating life of the NWS Project’s Karratha Gas Plant for decades beyond 2025.

“Central to our vision for the Burrup Hub is the transition of the Karratha Gas Plant into a third-party tolling facility as the NWS Joint Venture fields reach the end of their lives.

“The Browse Joint Venture will be the anchor tenant underpinning that transition and this preliminary agreement enables the participants to progress toward an earlier final investment decision to develop the gas resource, targeted for 2020.

“Gas from Clio-Acme is planned to be brought to the Burrup Hub through the Woodside-operated Pluto offshore infrastructure and then transported via the proposed Pluto-NWS Interconnector pipeline to be processed at the Karratha Gas Plant.

“The Burrup Hub will unlock the future value of the NWS and Pluto infrastructure by ensuring these world-class assets continue providing returns to the nation, state and local communities, and the participants’ shareholders, for many years to come,” he said.

The preliminary agreements were executed at a ceremony in Perth on Tuesday, 6 November 2018. The signatories will now continue negotiations to reach binding, fully termed agreements.
Woodside is the operator of the North West Shelf Project, Browse Joint Venture and Pluto LNG, Woodside said.