Pluto disruption fails to dent Woodside target

OREANDA-NEWS. Australian independent Woodside Petroleum said its 2015 production guidance of 230,000-249,000 b/d of oil equivalent (boe/d) remains unchanged after it confirmed the restart of production at its 4.3mn t/yr Pluto LNG project offshore Western Australia.

Pluto LNG was halted on 13 March after a drilling rig from Chevron's nearby 8.9mn t/yr Wheatstone LNG project moved away from its flow lines. The Chevron rig became separated when Cyclone Olywn hit the Carnarvon basin last week.

About 38pc of Woodside's 2015 production guidance will come from Pluto LNG, 26pc from the 16.3mn t/yr North West Shelf (NWS) LNG in which it owns a 16.66pc stake, 15pc from NWS domestic gas and the remaining 21pc from condensates, oil and LPG.

This indicates a production range of around 88,000-95,000 boe/d for Pluto and 60,000-65,000 boe/d for NWS in 2015, based on Woodside's share of production. Output is equivalent to around 3.6mn-3.9mn t of LNG from Pluto and 2.45mn-2.66mn t from NWS, using Woodside's conversion factor of 1t of LNG to 8.9055 boe, based on Argus calculations.

Woodside has a 90pc operating stake in Pluto, with Japanese utilities Kansai Electric Power and Tokyo Gas each owning 5pc. NWS is split equally between Woodside, BP, Chevron, Shell, UK-Australian resources firm BHP Billiton and the Japan Australia LNG consortium that comprises Japanese trading firms Mitsui and Mitsubishi.