The Chevron-led Gorgon (SEN, 32/17) project is in the final stages of commissioning systems to allow startup of Train 1, Chevron Australia said.
The Jansz-Io Field subsea infrastructure is fully complete, and the first two wells have been opened to the Jansz pipeline, confirming the full operability of the subsea systems.
“At the plant, the focus is on starting up the process units ahead of commencing liquefaction,” the company said.
Chevron Australia also said that LNG cool down cargo has arrived at the plant and is cooling the LNG tanks and associated facilities prior to first LNG export. The company expects the first LNG cargo in early 2016.
In addition, the company said it has made “good progress” on Trains 2 and 3, with all Train 2 and nine of 13 Train 3 modules installed and hookups underway.
As one of the largest natural gas projects ever undertaken and the largest single-resource development in Australia’s history, Gorgon is being highly watched around the world as the next large-scale LNG project to emerge from Australia.
With the startup of all three coal-seam-gas-to-LNG projects in the east completed, Gorgon promises to push Western Australia further into the head of the class of global LNG providers.
Once Gorgon starts up and the Wheatstone and Prelude (floating LNG) projects follow, the state will account for 20% of the world’s LNG production.
Gorgon has faced its share of headwinds, having endured a cost blowout of 40%, bringing its tally to A$54 billion ($3.74 billion).
Chevron is developing the Gorgon and Jansz-Io gas fields, located within the Greater Gorgon area, between 130 km and 220 km off the northwest coast of Western Australia.
It includes the construction of a 15.6 million tonne per annum LNG plant on Barrow Island and a domestic gas plant with the capacity to supply 300 TJ of gas per day to Western Australia.
Gorgon LNG will be offloaded via a 2.1-km-long loading jetty for transport to international markets. The domestic gas will be piped to the Western Australian mainland.
The project also includes the design, construction and operation of facilities to inject and store CO₂ into a deep reservoir unit—known as the Dupuy Formation—more than 2 km beneath Barrow Island. This will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the project by about 40%.
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