The production semisubmersible has arrived at Woodside Energy’s Scarborough field offshore Western Australia.
With the arrival of the nearly 70,000-metric-ton floating production unit (FPU) on site in 950-m water depth, Woodside pegs the development project at 91% complete, the operator said in a 13 January release.
“Our focus now shifts to the hookup and commissioning phase in preparation for production, and, ultimately, first LNG cargo which is on track for the second half of this year,” Woodside Acting CEO Liz Westcott said in the news release.
McDermott delivered the FPU under a contract awarded in 2021 that covered engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and commissioning services. McDermott's joint venture (JV) yard, Qingdao McDermott Wuchuan (QMW), in Qingdao, China, fabricated the 30,000-metric-ton topsides, while COSCO constructed the 37,000-metric-ton hull in its Qidong, China, shipyard. The topsides and hull were mated in May offshore Dalian, China, and further integration work was carried out at CIMC’s Raffles shipyard in Yantai, China, before it was towed more than 4,000 nautical miles to the Scarborough gas field.
The Scarborough FPU, one of the largest semisubmersible facilities constructed, uses advanced emissions-reduction systems and is designed to treat and compress gas for export through the trunkline. It can also accommodate future tie-ins to support the development of nearby fields.
According to McDermott, the FPU will process natural gas—including gas separation, dehydration, and compression—as well as monoethylene glycol regeneration and produced-water handling. It is designed for a production capacity of up to 1.8 Bcf/D.
Woodside and BHP sanctioned the $12-billion Scarborough project in November 2021, at the same time the companies formally signed a previously announced agreement to merge BHP into Woodside.
The Woodside-operated Scarborough gas project is located in the Carnarvon Basin about 375 km off the coast of Western Australia. Woodside and its partners are developing the field through new offshore facilities connected by pipeline to a second LNG train at the existing Pluto LNG onshore facility about 433 km away.
The Scarborough development plan includes eight wells drilled in the project’s first phase and 13 wells throughout the life of the field. The expansion of Pluto LNG includes the construction of a second LNG train referred to as Pluto Train 2, for which Bechtel is responsible for the engineering, procurement, and construction. The development plan also includes installation of additional domestic gas processing facilities and supporting infrastructure and modifications to the existing Pluto Train 1 to allow it to process Scarborough gas. Scarborough gas is expected to produce approximately 5 mtpa of LNG from Pluto Train 2 and up to 3 mtpa of LNG from the existing Pluto Train 1.
Woodside operates the Scarborough Joint Venture (JV) with 74.9% interest on behalf of JV participants JERA with 15.1% interest and LNG Japan with 10% interest. Woodside holds 51% in the Pluto Train 2 JV and 90% in the Pluto Train 1 JV.
