But proposed developments on the Kimberley coastline and islands have proven to be a lightning rod for environmentalists’ protests, and winning environmental approvals could be difficult.
However, Inpex says it has looked thoroughly at alternative sites and believes developing the Marets is the best option.
Given the Kimberley’s pristine beaches and unspoilt beauty spots, the Western Australian Government is pushing hard for the development of a LNG hub in one place to minimise disturbance.
WA Deputy Premier Eric Ripper has said the government envisages different LNG projects using the “same location for their processing facilities”.
Having done all the hard work to gain heritage and other clearances for its Pluto LNG development, Woodside Petroleum has now said it may develop Pluto as a gas-gathering hub.
“It gives other companies opportunities to not have to go through all that [approvals] and be able to place their gas,” chief executive Don Voelte said. “And, frankly, we think we’ve got the last, best place on the Dampier Peninsula to build a plant.”
Voelte said Woodside’s 20 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Browse could end up in “three or four different places” – Darwin, the Kimberleys, North West Shelf-Pluto, or “offshore, at site”.
Should Woodside choose to pipe Browse 900km to Pluto, some of the infrastructure would already be in place.
The company has invested “hundreds of millions of dollars” to design the project for expansions, including a bigger pipeline coming onshore and a heavier platform, Voelte said.
“We have built most of the infrastructure with the idea that we have either two or three trains at the Burrup LNG Park,” he said.
But transporting Ichthys gas to Voelte’s hub is a pipedream, as far as Inpex is concerned.
“It is not an option for Inpex,” Kildare said.
Inpex hopes to begin front-end engineering and design studies later this year for a US$10 billion project.
It is looking at two trains, each rated at 4.2 million tonnes per annum, with the first LNG shipments due late 2012.
To achieve that timetable, Inpex and its partner, Total of France, must make a final investment decision by the end of 2008.
For a full-length feature article on development options and problems for Browse LNG, see the next issue of Petroleum magazine, due out in September.
