Wheatstone LNG is a

liquefied natural gas plant Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...

operating in the Ashburton North Strategic Industrial Area, which is located west of

Onslow, Western Australia __NOTOC__ Onslow is a coastal town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, north of Perth. It has a population of 848 people and is located within the Shire of Ashburton local government area. The town is served by Onslow Airport, and i ...

. The project is operated by Chevron Australia Pty. Ltd.

History

The Wheatstone gas field was discovered in the Greater Gorgon Area in 2004. The final investment decision was made in September 2011, and construction began in December 2011.

Technical description

The project is expected to cost A$29 billion (US$29.7 billion). The LNG liquefaction and export plant will have an annual capacity of 15 million tonnes of LNG. In the first stage, the plant will have a gas plant, and two LNG trains with a capacity of 4.3 million tonnes per year each. It will be supplied from the Wheatstone, Iago, Julimar and Brunello offshore gas fields.

Contractors

Front-end engineering and design works of the project are being performed by three companies. Bechtel Oil & Gas Chemicals Inc. is undertaking the design of the onshore gas plant. Intecsea Pty. Ltd., a subsidiary of The WorleyParsons Group, is designing the subsea infrastructure and trunkline. And Technip Pty. Ltd. is designing the offshore processing platform. Geotechnical consultation for the design and construction of the LNG plant and associated infrastructure will be provided by Golder Associates. Liquefied natural gas storage and condensate tanks to be built by a joint venture between Thiess and EV LNG Australia, a subsidiary of ENTREPOSE Contracting (itself a subsidiary of VINCI)http://www.vinci-construction.com/en/group/subsidiary/34/entrepose-contracting and Vinci Construction Grands Projets. Ready-for-startup operations support services will be provided by ODL, a subsidiary of

Wood Group John Wood Group plc, commonly known as Wood, is a British multinational engineering and consulting business with headquarters in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange as well as being a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. ...

. The operability, reliability and maintainability contract was awarded to

Clough Clough ( ; ) is a village and townland in County Down, Northern Ireland. It sits about 3 miles from Dundrum, County Down, Dundrum on the A2 road (Northern Ireland), A2 between Newcastle, County Down, Newcastle and Belfast. The A2 road (Northern ...

AMEC.

Developer

Chevron Australia Pty. Ltd. owns 72 percent of the project.

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...

owns 6.4 percent of the project; Woodside owns 13 percent, KUFPEC Australia (Julimar) Pty. Ltd., a subsidiary of the Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co., owns 7 percent; and Kyushu Electric Power Co. owns 1.6 percent of the project.

Exports

3.1 million tonnes of LNG per year will be exported to

Tokyo Electric , also known as or TEPCO, is a Japanese electric utility holding company servicing Japan's Kantō region, Yamanashi Prefecture, and the eastern portion of Shizuoka Prefecture. This area includes Tokyo. Its headquarters are located in Uchisa ...

. Korea Gas Corp. ( KOGAS) will buy 1.5 million tonnes per year. Tohoku Electric and Chubu Electric will each buy 1 million tons per year. 300,000 tonnes per year will be exported to Kyushu Electric.

References