Woodside saddles up for Pluto probes

Woodside is set to drill up to nine more wells next year to shore up additional gas reserves needed for its Pluto LNG second train expansion project in Australia despite poor results from the last three holes drilled in the Pluto exploration area.

The Australian giant is set to drill between six and nine wells next year, most of which will be in the WA-404-P permit, where preliminary results from the 3166 square kilometre Colombard 3D seismic sweep have been “encouraging”. In an investor briefing presentation, Woodside said the first well to be drilled in the licence it holds with equal partner Hess, will target the Martell prospect. The Martell probes are planned for December this year and February next year. The Perth-based company is also preparing to drill the Pyxis prospect in permit WA-34-L and will take a decision to drill in licences WA-347-P, WA-348-P and WA-353-P after seeing the results from the 6484 square kilometre Armagnac 2D seismic shoot. Last month Woodside's chief executive, Don Voelte, said that it was focused on delivering the Pluto train 1 by the end of 2010 and capturing growth opportunities for trains 2 and 3. Woodside needs to find a new gas supply for the second train soon or risk being unable to roll over the construction workforce from Pluto’s first train to the project’s second train. The company said at the investor briefing that it is also open to developing the second train wholly or partly as a gatherer of other companies’ gas. Pluto project capital investment is likely to climb from an estimated A$5.5 billion (US$3.5 billion) this year to A$7.3 billion next year due to increased spending on the project. The first Pluto LNG train will have production capacity of 4.3 million tonnes per annum and is being built in modules by Sino-Thai of Thailand. Woodside has indicated the second train is not likely to be as large as the first train, although the company has government approvals for up to 12 million tpa at the Pluto site.
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