WA Government gives conditional support for Pilbara urea project

The WA Government has provided conditional support to develop common-user infrastructure at Murujuga (the Burrup Peninsula) to facilitate a major job-creating gas manufacturing project in the Pilbara.

The $4.6 billion Perdaman Urea project proposes a new manufacturing plant in the Burrup Strategic Industrial Area that would transform natural gas into urea.

“The Perdaman Urea project will be the first new gas manufacturing project in the Pilbara for 15 years, and will create thousands of jobs in construction, as well as around 300 Karratha-based jobs during operations, and will help to diversify the Pilbara economy,” said Alannah MacTeirnan, WA Minister for Regional Development.

The project is helping to underpin development of the Scarborough gas field, with a gas supply agreement in place between Woodside and Perdaman.

The project also supports the state’s Renewable Hydrogen Strategy by establishing an ammonia-based industry in the Pilbara and expanding access to water by developing extra capacity on the existing water infrastructure on the Burrup — a critical input for the production of renewable hydrogen.

The state government has provided $35.5 million for road relocation costs, and for detailed design of a new Dampier cargo wharf and upgrades to seawater supply infrastructure.

Any state government financial contribution is subject to a number of conditions, including the project receiving a Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility loan, the project reaching financial close, all statutory and regulatory approvals being met and the project securing offtake agreements.

Image: ©stock.adobe.com/au/tomas