AGIG completes Pluto to North West Shelf link

Australian energy infrastructure company AGIG has completed the construction of the Pluto to North West Shelf Interconnector (PNI) project, it said on November 17.

Pre-flow commissioning checks and final inspections were finished on November 5. The project consists of a 30-inch pipeline connecting the inlet facilities next to the Pluto LNG plant, via the metering facilities at Dampier to the outlet facilities within the Karratha gas plant.

AGIG will fill the interconnector with nitrogen to preserve the pipeline in preparation for Woodside’s start of gas flows from the Pluto LNG plant. Commissioning and operations are expected in early 2022, it said.

The interconnector has been constructed for Woodside to transport gas from the Pluto LNG plant to the North West Shelf’s Karratha gas plant for both LNG export and domestic supply. The interconnector is just over 3-km long and will initially transport about 250 terajoules/day of gas potentially rising to over 900 terajoules/day during its operations, AGIG said.

Woodside took a final investment decision on the pipeline in November 2019 and entered into contractual arrangements with DDG Operations, a unit of AGIG.