From Australia (RW): Floating LNG has received the ‘thumbs up’ from two planned gas developments in Australian waters.

BHP Billiton has finally agreed with ExxonMobil that a floating LNG solution is the best way forward to develop the Scarborough (SEN, 31/12) gas field on the Exmouth Plateau, offshore Western Australia. BHP has previously preferred to link the field to existing production facilities along the coast such as the North West Shelf project.

The change of preference was articulated by Tim Cutt, BHPB’s president of petroleum. Cutt said the companies, in a 50:50 partnership, are now together in the method of development. They are also increasingly confident the project will go ahead, although it is unlikely to come onstream before 2020.

Cutt said BHPB now has confidence in FLNG technology and the field’s commerciality. ‘It is a good commercial project,’ he said.

Scarborough, discovered in 1979, is 220km northwest of Exmouth on the coast of WA in 900-970m. Reserves are put at 280bcm.

Initial plans for the FLNG facility include a vessel 495m long and 75m wide with a capacity for producing 6-7mt/a of LNG. The field life is expected to be 25-35 years.

Meanwhile, Hess has reportedly put floating LNG back on the table as a development option for its Equus (29/15) gas complex in the Carnarvon Basin, offshore WA.

The company began with thoughts of FLNG for its group of discoveries, but then changed tack to focus on the idea of selling the gas to other projects in the region, including the North West Shelf, Woodside’s Pluto (30/24) or Chevron’s Wheatstone (31/13) project.

Negotiations with these other parties reportedly have not progressed as hoped. Talks have not ceased, but Hess is also re-examining the FLNG option. The company has said it is ‘refining components of the Equus FEED parameters.’

The Equus fields have an estimated 85bcm of recoverable gas reserves. There is no sign of a revised final investment date that was last set to be mid-2013.