Construction of Australia’s Pluto Train 2, Woodside Energy’s second LNG train, has begun. The project is located at the Pluto liquefied natural gas (LNG) onshore facility on the Burrup Peninsula. This is close to Karratha, in Western Australia.
The Pluto Train 2 project, which is expected to cost US$ 5.6bn, will be equipped to produce gas from the Scarborough oilfield in Western Australia. For the Pluto Train 2 project, Bechtel is acting as the engineering, procurement, and construction contractor. This project will have an annual LNG capacity of about five million tonnes (Mtpa).
The project will also entail the development of additional domestic gas infrastructure. Thus, it will raise the system’s daily capacity to about 225 terajoules. “Scarborough gas, processed through an enhanced and effective Pluto facility, will assist the decarbonization aspirations of our customers in Asia,” said Meg O’Neill, CEO of Woodside.
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Australia’s Pluto Train 2 project to increase the country’s LNG export
Bechtel said that site preparation work at the project has already begun. The first earthworks and activities in the laydown and storage sections are also scheduled to start before the end of this year. The Pluto Train 2 project will open up new industrial and downstream processing projects while enabling the export of about 9Mtpa of LNG.
Western Australia accounts for 56% of all LNG exports from Australia. This is according to Western Australia’s State Development, Jobs, and Trade Minister Roger Cook. With 12% of the world’s LNG supply in 2021, WA is the third-largest LNG exporter on its own.
During the four-year construction phase, the development will support 3,200 new employments. Furthermore, once fully operating, it will support 600 jobs, including around 230 local jobs for the Karratha region. Earlier this year, Global Infrastructure Partners purchased the 49% non-operating interest that Woodside had previously had in the joint venture Pluto Train 2.
