Woodside-proposed Pluto LNG Train 2 project’s nominal capacity would be shrunk from 8 MMT/Y to 5.3 MMT/Y, according to a works approval recently awarded by the Western Australia’s Department of Water and Environmental Regulation.
“Woodside's planned second train at Pluto will feature six highly efficient aero-derivative gas turbines to drive the compressors and have a capacity of 5.3 MMT/Y of LNG.”
However, the current design capacity for the Scarborough upstream (offshore) facilities is 6.5 MMT/Y meaning that the onshore inlet facilities will be capable of receiving 6.5 MMT/Y of feed gas. This exceeds the design capacity of the Pluto Train 2 LNG processing project (5.3 MMT/Y) as excess feed gas may be used to backfill other operations such as Pluto Train 1 or, in the future, the Karratha Gas Plant via the Pluto-KGP Interconnector. “The introduction of additional feed gas into these plants will be balanced with the reduction in existing feed meaning that the total overall throughput will not change.”
Pluto T2 project will utilise existing LNG storage tanks and loading facilities already constructed for Pluto LNG facility. The LNG storage facility consists of 2 tanks each with a capacity of up to 160 000-CM, and 3 condensate tanks with a combined capacity of up to 130 000-CM.
Woodside was targeting a final investment decision for the Scarborough gas field development and Pluto Train 2 project in the second half of 2021.
Meanwhile, Woodside has set new interim and long-term targets to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 at Pluto LNG which is aligned with the Pluto LNG T2 revised capacity and the WA government’s “aspiration to reduce and offset carbon emissions to net zero by 2050”, including an interim target to abate 30% of emissions by 2030 and long-term targets to abate 100% of emissions by 2050.
Backgrounds quoted from the Global LNG Database®:

On 22 Oct. 2020, Woodside’s CFO Sherry Duhe said that the company has begun working with its partner BHP to increase the scale of their proposed $17 billion Scarborough project up to 20% in the hope of improving its viability in a tougher LNG market and giving a go-ahead next year. It gives us time to significantly upsize the annual production that can come through the LNG facilities, from 6.5 MMT/Y up to 8 MMT/Y, she added.
On 18 Feb. 2021, Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said that “the decisions to defer the targeted final investment decision (FID) on our Scarborough and Pluto Train 2 developments and the review of the value of our assets were appropriate responses to extraordinary market uncertainty caused by the pandemic and lower oil and gas prices.”
“Scarborough remains firmly on track for a targeted FID in the second half of 2021, with around 50% of our expected equity gas production now under contract. In the second half of the year, we seized the opportunity to optimise the project schedule and increase the offshore capacity of Scarborough by approximately 20% to 8 MMT/Y of LNG, adding considerable shareholder value to an already world-class development.”
Pluto LNG plant’s shareholders are Woodside (operator, 90%), Kansai Electric (5%) and Tokyo Gas (5%).