The Devil Creek gas processing plant in Western Australia has produced first gas, boosting WA’s gas supply by up to 20 per cent.

Santos announced on Tuesday that natural gas from the offshore Reindeer field in the Carnarvon Basin, off the Pilbara coast, had been delivered to the Dampier to Bunbury natural gas pipeline for the first time.

Devil Creek is the state’s third domestic gas processing plant.

The joint venture between Santos (45 per cent) and Apache Energy (55 per cent) includes a 105km pipeline to shore.

The gas plant has a gross production capacity of 215 terajoules a day – a terajoule is equal to 1 trillion joules – and is initially planned to ramp up to sales of 120 TJ/day.

Santos WA and Northern Territory vice-president John Anderson said that for many years, WA had been reliant almost entirely on the North West Shelf and Varanus Island for its domestic gas.

“With Devil Creek, the state now has greater energy security with a third gas processing plant,” he said in a statement.

He said recently that exports were expected to soar, with demand for Australian gas projected to quadruple by 2025, driven by Asia.

The joint venture has four customers for Devil Creek gas and wants to attract more local companies in the mining industry.

Santos recently secured a six-year contract to supply gas from Reindeer field to Minara Resources’ Murrin Murrin nickel mine in the state’s Goldfields region.

Santos shares were down 18 cents at $13.36 on Tuesday.