Woodside Petroleum Ltd reported that it had signed a sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso Australia Resources for the acquisition of interest in the Scarborough asset WA-01-R, located in the Investigator Sub-basin, North Carnarvon Basin, on 14 February 2018.Â  Under the terms of the SPA, Woodside would acquire Essoâs 50% interest in the permit and Scarborough field for an initial payment of USD 444 million, followed by a secondary contingent payment of USD 300 million upon the Scarborough project reaching Final Investment Decision (FID). The acquisition of Essoâs 50% interest would increase Woodsideâs interest in the asset to 75%, after it first acquired 25% interest in November 2016 from joint venture partner BHP Billiton.Â  At this time, Woodside also acquired 50% interest in WA-61-R, WA-62-R and WA-63-R, which contain an additional part of the Scarborough field and the Jupiter and Thebe discoveries.Â  The latter discoveries are outlined for tie-in to the Scarborough project. The SPA remains subject to relevant approvals, and also to BHP not exercising its pre-emptive rights to the asset.Â  BHP holds a 25% interest in Scarborough currently, after selling half its interest to Woodside previously, and also 50% in WA-61-R, WA-62-R and WA-63-R as sole partner to Woodside.Â  It is hoped that the SPA with Esso will be complete by end Q1 2018. Woodside reported that acquisition of the additional Scarborough interest and operatorship would result in âgreater alignment, control and certainty for the projectâ.Â  The aim would be to tie Scarborough back to the Pluto LNG facilities as part of the expansion of the project and to fill the expected market gap for LNG supply in the 2020âs.Â   If Woodsideâs proposal goes ahead, Scarborough would be scheduled to reach FID by 2020, with start-up in around 2025. As part of the Pluto expansion, Woodside also has plans for a âBurrup Hub conceptâ which would see additional expansion and synergies of both its Pluto and NWS LNG facilities.Â  Outlined in the plans is a Pluto-NWS interconnector pipeline, which would further utilise the existing facilities and use to produce additional gas fields â including Scarborough and also the Browse project fields.Â  Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) for the interconnection is planned for 2018. Â 
Woodside has acquired Exxonâs 50% interest in WA-01-R which contains the majority of the Scarborough gas field for US$774 MM. Following the completion of the deal, Woodside will hold a 75% interest in WA-1-R and a 50% interest in WA-61-R, WA-62-R and WA-63-R .