Woodside’s Greater Western Flank Phase 2 has started feeding gas to the North West Shelf LNG plant ahead of schedule and under budget.

The six North West Shelf partners approved the project in December 2015 to develop 1.6 trillion cubic feet of gas from six different fields.

It was estimated to cost $US2 billion and begin production in the second half of 2019.

Woodside chief executive Peter Coleman today said the project had been delivered early and $US630 million ($890 million) below the expected cost.

“The project team has done an outstanding job executing and delivering GWF-2, which represents the next phase in gas supply to the NWS Goodwyn A platform,” he said.

Mr Coleman said the cost and schedule savings had been achieved by combining two drilling campaigns, accelerating work and collaborating closely with contractors.

The project is about 135km north-west of Dampier and includes eight subsea wells tied back to the existing Goodwyn A platform by a 35km corrosion-resistant subsea pipeline.

When Greater Western Flank Phase 2 was approved in 2015, it was the fourth significant gas development given the go-ahead in seven years to supply the five NWS LNG trains near Karratha.

Mr Coleman said the capabilities that drove the success of the project could now be applied to the proposed Browse and Scarborough gas projects.

Woodside plans to sanction the two projects in 2020 to feed gas to the NWS and expanded Pluto LNG plants.