Final Gorgon module arrives
A year out from the proposed start-up of its $US54 billion ($57.2 billion) Gorgon LNG development, Chevron has welcomed the final module for the first of three processing trains to Barrow Island.
The 6300-tonne module has been the last of 21 to arrive on the island before being installed to complete the first LNG train, which will be capable of producing 5.2 million tonnes of liquefied gas a year.
Chevron Australia managing director Roy Krzywosinski described the module's arrival as a significant milestone for Australia's biggest resources project.
The module is 55m long, 46m wide and 45m high. Its weight is equivalent to that of 2500 cars.
Chevron intends to start up the three Gorgon trains at half-year intervals.
At full flight, Gorgon's 15.6mtpa output will be shaded only by the Woodside Petroleum-operated North West Shelf venture, which produces 16.3mtpa.
First LNG is expected by the middle of next year, though project partner and 25 per cent investor Royal Dutch Shell has been decidedly more bullish on the start-up, flagging a delay until 2016.
After a troubled site works construction period, Chevron is busy installing overseas-manufactured modules for the trains, the domestic gas plant and the carbon dioxide reinjection operation. The first CO{-2} compressor recently arrived on the island, off the Pilbara coast.
