Woodside signs supply agreement for Scarborough gas

Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Perth, has signed a long-term gas sale and purchase agreement with petrochemical company Perdaman Chemicals & Fertilisers Pty. Ltd., a subsidiary of multinational Perdaman Group, for the supply of gas for 20 years.

The agreement includes an option to extend supply for a further 5 years.

Woodside said the agreement is for 125 terajoules of gas a day for use in Perdaman’s proposed urea plant to be built on the Burrup Peninsula, near Karratha in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Gas will be supplied from Woodside’s overall Western Australian portfolio, but primarily sourced from the company’s proposed development of the Scarborough gas field in deep water on the Exmouth Plateau. The gas will be processed through the Woodside-operated North West Shelf and Pluto facilities on the Burrup.

The gas supply agreement is subject to several conditions, but supply is expected to begin between 2023 and 2025 when the urea plant and the Scarborough field are brought on stream.

Execution of the agreement follows a memorandum of understanding between the two parties signed in April.

Perdaman, also based in Western Australia, is proposing to build the 2 million tonne/year urea plant as an export project supplying demand in the growing Asia-Pacific region. The plant will be 3 years in the construction phase, creating more than 2,000 direct jobs. Perdaman will then employ a permanent staff of 200 to operate the facility.