The Northwest Swan, the ninth in the Venture's fleet, will deliver its LNG cargo to one of the Venture's existing customers, Chubu Electric Power Company, Inc.
"The maiden delivery voyage of the Northwest Swan is another important step in the expansion of LNG facilities on the North West Shelf," said Woodside’s Chief Executive Officer of the North West Shelf Venture, Steve Ollerearnshaw.
"In February we achieved the start-up of the new A$800m second trunkline which is now fully operational,” Ollerearnshaw said.
“We are now entering the final stages of construction of the A$1.6 billion fourth LNG train, which is nearing 95% overall completion.”
The Northwest Swan complements the Venture's fleet of eight purpose-built ships and will be used for LNG deliveries to Japan, China and Korea. The Venture’s existing fleet has been operating reliably to Japan for the past 15 years.
The Northwest Swan was built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering at its dockyards near Busan, South Korea, and was delivered to the Venture at the end of March 2004.
The new ship uses a membrane containment system and has a length of 287 metres, a beam of 43.4 metres and a draught of 11.5 metres. It has a capacity of 138,500 cubic metres (existing ship capacity 125,000 cubic metres).
The six equal participants in the North West Shelf Venture are: BHP Billiton Petroleum (North West Shelf) Pty Ltd; BP Developments Australia Pty Ltd; ChevronTexaco Australia Pty Ltd; Japan Australia LNG (MIMI) Pty Ltd; Shell Development (Australia) Proprietary Limited; and Woodside Energy Ltd. (operator).
