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North West Shelf hit by rising costs



By Upstream staff 

The Woodside-operated North West Shelf Venture gas project Train 5 expansion will now cost as much as A$2.6 billion (US$2.19 billion) due to rising financial pressures, according to Australian media reports.

Originally approved as a A$2 billion project in June 2005, the cost of the project was revised by Woodside in September last year to A$2.425 billion.

However, continuing cost pressures on every input from labour through to steel and cement are tipped to have carried the final cost to A$2.6 billion - a A$175 million increase on the September 2006 revised cost estimate and 30% more than forecast in 2005, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

A new review of costs is expected to be made available by Woodside to the joint venture participants at the end of the month.

Credit Suisse told clients in a research note yesterday that its industry sources "were confident the project remained economically viable due to increased liquefied natural gas prices on the back of current strong demand in Asia."

The construction of the project's fifth gas processing train will lift the its annual capacity to 16.3 million tonnes of LNG.

Train 5 has begun to take shape at the Karratha gas plant, with commissioning due to start in mid-2008 and the first LNG shipment expected in the fourth quarter of 2008.

The development of Train 5 has been unique for the joint venture in that it is the first that is not underpinned by long-term supply contracts.

The joint venture is betting that forecast strong growth in LNG demand will look after the customer base closer to commissioning.

Woodside will also shortly update the market on the cost overrun at its Otway gas project, off the coast of Victoria.


Tuesday, 12 June, 2007, 01:18 GMT  | last updated: Tuesday, 12 June, 2007, 02:36 GMT

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