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Australian Energy Producers Journal Australian Energy Producers Journal Society
Journal of Australian Energy Producers
 

Emissions Reduction Visual Presentation R02: Application of data analytics models to support LNG plant energy efficiency improvements

Matthew Ladner A * and Qi Chu A *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Woodside Energy, Perth, WA, Australia.




Matthew Ladner joined Woodside in 2010 and has over 18 years of upstream and LNG industry experience, including process engineering design, integrated production forecasting, and 12 years of frontline process engineering support on LNG plants. He graduated with a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from Curtin University in 2006 and is currently responsible for developing integrated energy efficiency and emissions reduction management systems for the Karratha Gas Plant.



Qi Chu is a physicist and data scientist with over 13 years of experience in physics modelling and computational sciences. She combines her PhD in Physics with expertise in Computer Science and Engineering. Qi has been with Woodside for over 3 years, focussing on developing simulation solutions and analytics modelling products for production optimisation at Pluto and Karratha gas plants.

Australian Energy Producers Journal 65, EP24472 https://doi.org/10.1071/EP24472
Published: 19 June 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of Australian Energy Producers.

Abstract

Emissions Reduction Visual Presentation R02

The Woodside-operated Karratha Gas Plant (KGP) is a large-scale integrated gas production system located in Karratha, Western Australia. Producing liquefied natural gas (LNG), domestic gas, condensate and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) through five LNG processing trains; two domestic gas trains; six condensate stabilisation units and three LPG fractionation units. Woodside actively pursues opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in operations, including the use of data analytics techniques to inform our operations teams on plant energy efficiency optimisation. Two examples of data analytics application in LNG plant energy efficiency optimisation are presented: (1) power generation config explorer – an analytical and logic solver model with ‘now-casting’ capability and (2) a live plant-wide energy efficiency metric with built-in thermodynamic calculation functionality. The power generation config explorer tool is an advisory application which provides a recommended operation config (number of generators and type) to meet operational constraints, maximise energy efficiency and reduce GHG emissions. The tool uses machine learning techniques to overcome the challenge of predicting reactive power in a complex alternating current (AC) power network and a logic solver to mimic advanced process control behaviour. Core to energy management is accurate measurement of energy consumption and energy production. The conversion of LNG product ‘in-tank’ to an energy equivalent basis is a common challenge due to the need to correct for boil-off gas losses. A data analytics approach has been applied using live plant data integrated with thermodynamic equation of state calculation and numerical optimisation methods to account for heat losses and other uncertainties.

To access the Visual Presentation click on the link on the right. To read the full paper click here

Keywords: data analytics, data science, data visualisation, energy efficiency, GHG emissions reduction in operations, LNG production, process simulation, turndown.

Biographies

EP24472_B1.png

Matthew Ladner joined Woodside in 2010 and has over 18 years of upstream and LNG industry experience, including process engineering design, integrated production forecasting, and 12 years of frontline process engineering support on LNG plants. He graduated with a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from Curtin University in 2006 and is currently responsible for developing integrated energy efficiency and emissions reduction management systems for the Karratha Gas Plant.

EP24472_B2.png

Qi Chu is a physicist and data scientist with over 13 years of experience in physics modelling and computational sciences. She combines her PhD in Physics with expertise in Computer Science and Engineering. Qi has been with Woodside for over 3 years, focussing on developing simulation solutions and analytics modelling products for production optimisation at Pluto and Karratha gas plants.