Worker dies in incident at Australia’s ‘largest offshore gas processing facility’

Australia’s energy giant Woodside has reported an incident, which resulted in a fatality at its operated gas processing facility offshore Western Australia.

According to Woodside, the incident occurred at approximately 12:00 pm at its North Rankin Complex (NRC). This led to the death of an employee, which was hired by one of the Australian player’s contractors. While the incident occurred during work activity being carried out at the North Rankin Complex, the company assures that all other people on board are safe.

Meg O’Neill, Woodside CEO, commented: “This is a very sad day for the extended Woodside family and I offer my deepest sympathy to our colleague’s family, friends, and workmates. Any loss of life is heartbreaking. We are taking all steps to understand the circumstances around this tragic event and are cooperating closely with Western Australian Police and the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Emergency Authority in their ongoing investigations.”

Furthermore, the Australian giant has confirmed that its senior executives are travelling to Karratha while counselling and support services are being made available to employees and contractors through its Employee Assistance Programme.

Located in Commonwealth waters, about 135 km offshore from Dampier on the northwest coast of Western Australia, the NRC is a single integrated facility comprised of two interconnected production platforms, North Rankin A (NRA) and North Rankin B (NRB), and associated subsea infrastructure, including two export trunklines (1TL and 2TL), which run between the NRC facility and the onshore Karratha Gas Plant (KGP).

Woodside claims that the NRC is Australia’s largest offshore gas processing facility, which stands in 125 metres of water and has a daily production capacity of up to 66,000 tonnes of dry gas and 6,000 tonnes of condensate from the North Rankin and Perseus fields.

The NRC is operated by Woodside on behalf of the North West Shelf (NWS) project participants: Woodside Energy, BP Developments Australia, Chevron Australia, Japan Australia LNG (MIMI), and Shell Development (Australia).