Transition to tolling third-party gas at Karratha Gas Plant: an attractive investment which unlocks infrastructure utilisation

In December 2020, the North West Shelf (NWS) Project participants executed fully-termed third-party Gas Processing Agreements with Woodside Burrup Pty Ltd (Woodside Burrup), for gas from the Pluto fields, and with subsidiaries of Mitsui & Co Ltd and Beach Energy Limited (Mitsui and Beach), for the Waitsia Gas Project Stage 2. These agreements underpinned final investment decisions in the infrastructure projects, business processes, and digital tools, necessary to process third-party gas from the Pluto-Karratha Gas Plant (KGP) Interconnector, and the Burrup Extension Pipeline (BEP). Tolling operations commenced at the NWS Project in March 2022 with the processing of gas delivered from Pluto through the Interconnector. The first Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) cargo produced from gas through the Interconnector was loaded in April 2022. KGP is also expected to commence processing Waitsia gas via the BEP from 2023. Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill stated: ‘The start-up of the Pluto-KGP Interconnector provides access to spare capacity at Karratha Gas Plant to process gas owned by other resource owners, both onshore and offshore Western Australia. The commencement of Pluto gas flowing through the Interconnector is the first example of this… The commercial agreements underpinning third-party gas processing at the North West Shelf reflect the commitment of Woodside and the North West Shelf Project to maximising value from the significant infrastructure on the Burrup Peninsula’. The development of the necessary infrastructure, business/operational processes, and digital tools is a forward looking investment which unlocks an efficient market in third-party gas processing market at KGP.