North West Shelf Venture, Australia

The North West Shelf Venture is Australia's largest hydrocarbons project, based on the Burrup Peninsula near Dampier in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The participants of the venture are Woodside Energy Ltd., Shell Development (Australia) Ltd., BHP Petroleum (North West Shelf) Pty Ltd., BP Developments Australia Ltd., Chevron Australia Pty Ltd. and Japan Australia LNG (MIMI) Pty Ltd. Each owns an equal one sixth share.

The venture currently incorporates an onshore plant producing gas for domestic consumption in Western Australia. The plant also produces liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gases and natural gas condensate. More than seven million tons of liquid natural gas is shipped to long term customers in Japan and spot buyers in Spain, Korea and the USA.

PHASE ONE

The venture has so far progressed in three phases, the first of which is the domestic gas phase. This involved construction of one of the world's largest capacity offshore gas production platforms, North Rankin A, which began operation in 1984. With it, the Goodwyn A platform and the floating production vessel Cossack Pioneer extract gas, condensate and crude oil for export or processing over 130km away at the venture's onshore plant located on the Burrup Peninsula.

PHASE TWO

The second phase of the project, the LNG phase, began in 1985. This involved the construction of two LNG processing trains and associated stabilisation and condensate storage facilities, each with the capacity to produce 2.2 million tonnes of LNG a year. Exports began in 1989.

PHASE THREE

The project's third phase was completed in 1993 and involved the construction of a third LNG train and facilities to deal with the higher condensate and LPG content of the gas. This brought the plant's total capacity up to 6.6 million tonnes of LNG per year. This was closely followed by adding LPG (butane and propane) to the product mix. This expansion included the construction of a new load-out jetty for exporting LPG and condensate, and storage tanks for butane and propane.

PLANS FOR A FOURTH TRAIN

The aim for the onshore gas plant now is to add a new fourth train near the existing plant with associated utilities and general facilities. This is expected to increase production to up to 4.2 million tonnes per year. It will be integrated into the operations of the existing plant and share some of the existing facilities, LNG storage and loading systems.

The new train will be fully air-cooled and will feature high-efficiency gas turbine (aero-derivative) generators to augment existing power generation. An advanced nitrogen rejection system will be provided to maximise LNG production. LNG from the train will be exported via the loading jetty in Withnell Bay. A 42in diameter pipeline connecting the plant and the Venture's gas fields is also expected to be constructed.

The contract for engineering, procurement and construction management, worth about Australian $280 million, has been awarded to the Kellogg Joint Venture, which comprises Halliburton Australia (a Kellogg Brown & Root company), Hatch-Kaiser Engineers, Clough Engineering and JGC Corporation. Completion of the project is scheduled for 2004 and will be overseen by 400 staff in its Perth headquarters during the construction.

INVESTMENT IN THE NORTH WEST SHELF PROJECT

The full investment for the project will be around $1.6 billion. Industry briefings have been held in Karratha and Perth for prospective contractors and suppliers to outline the scope of the project and the tendering process. The expansion project should provide a major boost to Western Australian exports, with significant flow-on effects elsewhere in the economy. About 9,000 direct and indirect jobs across Australia are expected to be created during the peak construction period.

Click here for printable version