Woodside and BHP align Scarborough interests

Australian energy giants Woodside and BHP have agreed to align their participating interests in the Scarborough gas project located offshore Australia ahead of a final investment decision later this year.

Woodside, the operator, said on Wednesday that it had agreed with BHP to align interests across the WA-1-R (Scarborough) and WA-62-R (North Scarborough) titles, resulting in Woodside holding a 73.5% interest and BHP holding a 26.5% interest in each title.

Woodside and BHP have also agreed to apply for Production Licenses in respect of both titles. The agreement is subject to regulatory approvals.

Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said that aligning these interests will support the development of the Scarborough field across the two titles and demonstrates the strong commitment of the joint venture to making the final investment decision this year.

“This is a world-class Australian resource. The Production License applications are another key step to unlocking the full value of the Scarborough resource through the expansion of our existing Pluto LNG facility,” he said.

The Scarborough field contains an estimated contingent resource (2C) dry gas volume of 11.1 Tcf (100%; 8.2 Tcf Woodside share, calculated using deterministic and probabilistic methods).

Woodside is targeting the final investment decision in 2020 for the Scarborough development and first cargo in 2024.

The Scarborough gas field, discovered in 1979, is located off the coast of Western Australia approximately 220 kilometers northwest of Exmouth in 900 meters of water.

Scarborough gas would be initially processed on a deep-water floating production unit and transported through a 430 km pipeline to a proposed second LNG production train at the existing Woodside-operated Pluto LNG facility on Western Australia’s Burrup Peninsula.

In November 2019, Woodside and BHP reached an agreement on the tolling price for processing gas from the Scarborough field at Woodside’s Pluto LNG facility. The tolling price is valid to March 31, 2020. The agreed toll was based on BHP maintaining no more than a 25% interest in Scarborough (WA-1-R) up to the final investment decision, subject to BHP’s standard pre-emption rights.

Offshore Energy Today Staff

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