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North West Shelf LNG expansion set back



By Damon Evans 

Woodside’s North West Shelf train-V liquefied natural gas expansion project looks set to be pushed back thanks to construction delays on site.

“The original completion date was targeted in June, with first gas loaded in July, but it looks like construction delays will set back completion until at least September,” said a source on the sidelines at Gastech.

The push is on to finish the project at Karratha in Western Australia, but productivity problems with builders is slowing construction down, the source added.

“The project is going well, but a bit unrealistic in timescale, especially to build the plant within two years,” said another source.

Publicly Woodside remains confident that the expansion will be finished as planned, but Foster Wheeler who is the engineering, procurement and construction contractor, is experiencing slippage in the schedule, said the source.

"Train 5 remains on target to start up late in the fourth quarter of 2008," NWS Australia LNG senior vice president Mike Mellor told delegates at Gastech.

Woodside is the operator of the A$20 billion (US$18.7 billion) North West Shelf venture, Australia's largest LNG project, which has a production capacity of 11.9 million tonnes a year.

The extra train is expected to boost output by a further 4.4 million tonnes per annum by the end of this year.

The six equal partners in the North West Shelf joint-venture are Woodside, BHP Billiton, Chevron, BP, Shell and Japan Australia LNG, which is a joint-venture of Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsui.


Tuesday, 11 March, 2008, 07:46 GMT  | last updated: Tuesday, 11 March, 2008, 10:58 GMT

Karratha: home to Australia's largest LNG complex
 

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