The Australian newspaper reported today that the Woodside board was considering a compromise proposal that would let the company meet the reserve requirement by swapping gas from other reservoirs.

The State Government has said gas reservations would be imposed flexibly so that projects are not crippled. The maximum reservation would be 15% and such reservations would only be imposed if they were “commercially viable”. But it seems that the WA Government and Woodside have different ideas of just what “flexible” and “commercially viable” mean.

The policy was released today by WA Government. It can be accessed at the following link: http://www.doir.wa.gov.au/domgas

Pluto to go modular

If it does proceed, Pluto would follow the lead set by the North West Shelf Train 5 expansion, Woodside projects director Roy Thompson told the WA Petroleum Club's monthly meeting on Tuesday night.

“Pluto will also go for a modular build – if it proceeds,” he said.

The modular approach was likely to become more common, according to Thompson.

The North West Shelf's Train 5 development comprises 78 prefabricated units built overseas then assembled and hooked up onsite. The train will process 4.2 million tonnes per annum, boosting total production capacity to 15.9MMtpa.

The modular approach was partly driven by cost considerations and partly by local industry capacity and staff shortages, according to Thompson.

“It is very difficult to get people to the North West Shelf in the current heated resources market,” he said.

“We had about 2500 people onsite for the Train 4 development but only 1500 for T5. A modular development makes sense in this situation, and we are likely to see more of this in other very large projects.”