By Upstream staff
Australia’s North West Shelf Venture (NWSV) has decided to press ahead with the A$ 5 billion development of the North Rankin 2 project off Western Australia, operator Woodside Petroleum said today.
The final investment decision by the joint venture’s partners gives the green light for the installation of a second platform on the project, to recover gas from the North Rankin and Perseus gas fields, Woodside said in a statement.
The development is expected to cost about A$5 billion, the Perth-based player said.
The project will allow Woodside and partners to access another 7 trillion cubic feet of gas from the North Rankin field.
The new platform will stand in about 125 metres of water and will include further gas compression facilities to boost recovery from the low-pressure fields, as well as new accommodation facililities and utilities.
The North Rankin B platform will be connected to the existing North Rankin A facilitity by a bridge and will be operated as a single integrated entity. The project cost included necessary tie-ins and refursbishment of Rankin A, Woodside said.
Sources told Upstream earlier this month that contracts for the jacket and topsides of the platform have been handed to J Ray McDermott and Hyundai Heavy Industries respectively.
The 23,000-tonne topsides will be one of the world’s largest integrated decks and will be installed by the floatover method.
Meanwhile, the huge steel jacket will weigh 24,000 tonnes, plus a further 20,000 tonnes of piles as well as the 100-metre bridge link.
Startup of the North Rankin 2 project is set for 2013.
Woodside chief executive Don Voelte said the development project would continue to maximise the value of the NWSV project.
“This project will extend the field life of the North Rankin and Perseus fields and will support the venture’s onshore gas commitments to supply customers post 2013,” Voelte said in the statement.
Woodside operates the NWSV on behalf of partners BHP Billiton, BP, Chevron, Shell and Japan’s Mimi. All the players have an equal 16.67% stake in the venture off Australia’s remote north-west coastline.
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30 March 2008 23:57 GMT | last updated: 31 March 2008 02:54 GMT
http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article151418.ece
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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