Woodside Petroleum (ASX: WPL) investors have reason to celebrate after Monday's announcement that its North Rankin Redevelopment Project is officially pumping gas. At $5 billion, the project extends the lifetime of Australia's largest operating oil and gas operation, the North West Shelf Project.
"Start-up is a major milestone given the complexities of integrating a new 65,000 tonne facility next to an existing offshore production platform," said Woodside CEO Peter Coleman in a statement today. On time and on budget, the project refurbished and modified the existing North Rankin A platform, while adding on a new North Rankin B platform. The new installation is expected to open up around 5 trillion cubic feet of low pressure recoverable gas.
The project is split evenly between six different corporations, each with 16.7% ownership. In addition to Woodside, BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP), BP Developments Australia, Chevron Australia, Japan Australia LNG, and Shell Development (Australia) all have stakes in the continued success of the project.
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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.
