Xmas comes early for Scarborough and local business
Woodside’s Scarborough and Pluto Train 2 project will power WA in more ways than one.
The US$12 billion dollar natural gas development is expected to deliver thousands of jobs for Western Australians and significant opportunities for local businesses.
Local engineering and project management companies will be the first to benefit, with WA teams overseeing the design, fabrication and supply of critical pieces of offshore infrastructure.
One of the key components for the project are subsea production trees, endearingly referred to as ‘Xmas trees’ among the industry, a nod to early designs resembling the festive tree.
Xmas trees are a complex series of valves, chokes and modules that will lay on the seabed 1,000 metres under water. The trees are an engineering marvel, made up of more than 47,000 individual parts and weighing over 74 tonnes. They also play a critical role in the safe production of natural gas, controlling pressure and flow and are designed to operate continuously for more than 25 years.
Five trees have already arrived in WA, with three more to arrive on our shores next year. Scarborough contractor OneSubsea is working to store, maintain and preserve the trees before they are installed. A dedicated team will spend up to 6,000 local labour hours over the next 18 months tending to the trees so they are ready for deployment in 2023.
This is just one example of how Scarborough will provide a boost to the WA economy for decades to come.
