Sails at last set fair for Scarborough

Solutions: Woodside chief executive Peter Coleman spend 27 years with Scarborough operator ExxonMobil - and the field's gas may eventually head to his new company's Pluto facility.

WOODSIDE

By Russell Searancke

 10 May 2012 22:59 GMT

The long-awaited development of the big Scarborough gas field off Western Australia is gathering momentum, with expectations brewing that a front-end engineering and design phase could get under way this year.

Deciding on the most economic way to develop the field, and answering other commercial questions has occupied the 50:50 project owners ExxonMobil, the operator, and BHP Billiton for two years.

However, there are now signs of movement, and well-placed sources suggested the latest development concept could be a large fixed platform in shallower water, connected to the deep-water ­subsea wells and back to an ­onshore liquefied natural gas plant.

The liquefaction option has been a sticking point and, even though the partners have allotted land at Ashburton North for a greenfield LNG plant,…

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