Woodside (WPL) has made another gas discovery in the general area of its expanding Pluto LNG project offshore WA.
In fact the company’s Pluto LNG operation is slowly emerging as perhaps the future driver of the company’s WA LNG growth.
It was developed at a cost of around $14 billion and can easily be expanded once additional gas reserves have been found. That appears to be now happening.
The new discovery is the third in the general area in the last several years and could see the company more confident about expanding Pluto by adding another gas processing train.
Woodside yesterday told the ASX that the Pyxis-1 exploration well in production licence WA-34-L has found around 18.5 metres of net gas within the Jurassic sandstone target .
"The well reached a total depth of 3347 metres. Wireline logging has confirmed the discovery through the recovery of gas samples to surface and establishment of a gas pressure gradient,” Woodside said in the statement.
Woodside Executive Vice President Global Exploration Philip Loader said, "Given its location, this successful exploration outcome offers future tie-back potential to Woodside’s existing Pluto infrastructure”.
Pyxis-1 is located in Production Licence WA-34-L, within Western Australia’s Dampier Sub-Basin and is located approximately 15 kilometres north of Woodside’s producing Pluto Gas Field infrastructure.
Woodside Burrup Pty Ltd is the operator and 90% equity owner of WA-34-L. Kansai Electric Power Australia Pty. Ltd. and Tokyo Gas Pluto Pty. Ltd. each hold 5% equity.
Woodside is completing the Xena field tie-in project for the Pluto LNG, with first gas expected in the second half of this year. The Xena field was first discovered in 2006. Any development of Pyxis would follow a similar method.
That will extend the life of the project considerably.
In 2011 Woodside said the Xeres-1 well had intersected around 51 metres of gross gas within the Triassic target. The well was located about 12 kilometres east of the Pluto-1 discovery. It could also be tied into the Pluto production platform.
In 2014 Woodside said the Toro 1 well had found a net gas column of 65 meters, out of a gross column of 150 meters.
The find is within 22 kilometres of the 2012 Ragnar discovery, which Woodside had previously listed as a potential source of gas to help support any expansion of the Pluto project.
However, this plan was abandoned after the company decided it hadn’t found enough gas in Toro 1 to support an expansion of Pluto.
The so-called Ragnar hub, while relatively close to the coast, is south of the Pluto discovery and would require the construction of costly undersea pipelines to feed any gas into the project.
Woodside shares rose 2% to $35.07 yesterday after a 10% rise in US oil prices this week.
