Woodside Petroleum has announced plans to commission the previously postponed Browse floating LNG project off the coast of Australia in late-2021.
In December 2014, the company postponed an investment decision whether to go ahead with development of the project citing a collapse in oil prices.
Operated by Woodside Petroleum, the project also includes Royal Dutch Shell and BP.
Shell will provide the floating LNG technology for the Browse project.
The company and its partners postponed the decision to mid-2016 and now expects a final investment decision to take place in the second half of next year.
When the Browse project was designed as a land-based project, Woodside Petroleum predicted costs of $45bn, but later reduced them between 15% and 30%, Reuters reported.
Woodside Petroleum chief executive Peter Coleman told Financial Review that the company hopes to get support from its partners for the project and plans to recommend them to move into the FEED design process in the near future.
The company is also expediting work on its 70-million-barrel Greater Enfield oil project by proceeding with engineering, as well as design work on it.
The project off Western Australia, previously considered uneconomic, would now be developed at low-cost due to a dip in rig and subsea hardware costs.
As part of these plans, Woodside Petroleum aims to make a sign-off on Greater Enfield in 2016.
With further plans of drilling off South Korea, Myanmar and Cameroon, the company expects to enhance the balance of oil and gas in its portfolio in a bid to ramp-up exploration.
