BHP's $1.5 billion WA natural gas plant is open for business

With a production capacity of 200 terrajoules per day, the plant will be busy pulling gas from four offshore wells.

Justin Loiseau

Justin Loiseau hails from the great united state of North Carolina, where he started his first business at the ripe age of five: melting crayons into candles. With the infamous Crayola Crash of 1994, Justin moved on to study economics and environmental studies as a Morehead-Cain Scholar at the University of North Carolina. He has worked in a variety of sectors across the globe, from management consulting to the United Nations, and once spent three months examining invasive snails in Vietnam. Justin discovered The Motley Fool in 2012 and it’s been love ever since. Creativity, contrarianism, kerfuffling… what more could one want? When he’s not playing the Fool, you can find Justin at the University of Auckland, where he is pursuing a Masters in Economics as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. Justin finds biogas digesters fascinating and can unicycle a mile in seven minutes.

Published September 20, 2013 2:16 pm AEST

BHP Billiton's (ASX: BHP) domestic gas project is ready to pay off. The company announced today that its Onslow, WA Macedon domestic project is officially online, compliments of WA Premier Colin Barnett.

The $1.5 billion facility has unofficially been producing since August, when the first offshore gas from the Exmouth Sub-Basin was commercialized for domestic consumption. "BHP Billiton is playing an important role in securing a diverse and reliable energy supply for Western Australia," said Asset President Conventional Steve Pastor in a statement today. "Macedon is BHP Billiton's largest operated Australian domestic gas project and is expected to supply domestic gas for the wholesale market in Western Australia until at least 2033. The operation will supply 20 per cent of the State's daily domestic gas supply for consumers and industry."

With a production capacity of 200 terrajoules per day, the plant will be busy pulling gas from four offshore wells to ship off to WA consumers via the Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (jointly owned by DUET Group (ASX: DUE) and Alcoa (ASX: AAI), the longest line in Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Justin Loiseau has no position in any stocks mentioned in this article. You can follow him on Twitter @TMFJLo.

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