Santos approves drilling project to boost Darwin LNG supplies

Australia’s Santos has approved a $235 million offshore drilling program in the Timor Sea to boost natural gas supplies for its Darwin LNG export plant.

The operator of the Bayu-Undan joint venture announced the FID for the Phase 3C infill drilling program at the Bayu-Undan field offshore Timor-Leste on Tuesday.

Furthermore, the program includes three production wells and will develop additional natural gas and liquids reserves, extending field life as well as production from the offshore facilities and the Darwin LNG plant.

Sanction of the project comes less than seven months after Santos became operator of the Bayu-Undan venture following completion of the acquisition of ConocoPhillips’ northern Australia and Timor-Leste assets.

Moreover, Santos says the JV will drill the wells using the Noble Tom Prosser jack-up rig, with the first well scheduled to spud in the second quarter this year, and production from the first well expected in the third.

“This infill drilling program adds over 20 million barrels of oil equivalent gross reserves and production at a low of cost of supply and extends the life of Bayu-Undan, reducing the period that Darwin LNG is offline before the Barossa project comes on stream,” Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher said.

Santos currently has a 68.4% interest and operatorship in Bayu-Undan and Darwin LNG which will reduce to 43.4% upon completion of a 25% sell down to Korea’s SK E&S.

Gallagher said the sell-down received consent from Bayu-Undan/DLNG joint venture and Timor-Leste regulator before Christmas last year.

Now the firm is working on Australian regulatory approvals and Gallagher expects the sell-down to complete once it takes an FID on Barossa in the first half of 2021.

Most Popular

Excelerate in $700 million senior notes offering

US FSRU player Excelerate Energy aims to raise about $700 million via an offering of unsecured senior notes due 2030.

Adnoc, ENN seal 15-year LNG SPA

UAE’s Adnoc has signed a 15-year sales and purchase agreement with Chinese independent gas distributor ENN to supply the latter with LNG from its LNG terminal in Al Ruwais.

LNG shipping rates continue to decrease

Spot LNG freight shipping rates in both basins continued to decrease this week, while European prices increased compared to last week.

More News Like This

Santos: PNG LNG shipped 28 cargoes in Q1

The ExxonMobil-operated PNG LNG project in Papua New Guinea shipped 28 cargoes of liquefied natural gas in the first quarter of 2025, up by one cargo compared to the same quarter last year and one cargo less compared to the prior quarter, according to shareholder Australia’s Santos.

Santos: Barossa project 95.2 percent complete

The Barossa gas project, which will supply feed gas to the Santos-operated Darwin LNG plant, is 95.2 percent complete and remains on target for first production in the third quarter of 2025, Santos said on Thursday.

Santos says Barossa project 91 percent complete

The Barossa gas project, which will supply feed gas to the Santos-operated Darwin LNG plant, is 91 percent complete and remains on target for first production in the third quarter of 2025, Santos said on Wednesday.

TotalEnergies CEO says partners working hard on Papua LNG

TotalEnergies has a 37.55 percent operating stake in the Papua LNG project, ExxonMobil has 37.04 percent, Santos owns a...