(Reuters) — Australia's Woodside Energy took the final investment decision on a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project in Louisiana and flagged a total capital expenditure (capex) of about $17.5 billion.
The announcement comes after the oil and company said last week it was assessing the impact of U.S. tariffs and other trade measures on its Louisiana project as it moved towards a final go-ahead.
The project's three separate processing units, or trains, with a 16.5 million-ton-per-annum (Mtpa) capacity, are expected to begin production in 2029. The project has the potential to add two more LNG trains, taking its capacity to 27.6 Mtpa.
The investment will help Woodside deliver about 24 Mtpa from its worldwide LNG portfolio in the next decade, contributing to over 5% of global LNG supply, the company said.
Stonepeak, an investor in the Louisiana LNG Infrastructure LLC, will put $5.7 billion towards the expected capex on an accelerated basis, placing Woodside's capex share at $11.8 billion.
Woodside's greenhouse gas emission reduction targets remain unchanged after the final investment decision on the U.S. project, the company said.