LNG operator Santos gains price cut to complete purchase of Australian assets of ConocoPhillips
Australian LNG operator Santos has completed the acquisition of the northern Australia and Timor-Leste assets of US major ConocoPhillips for a reduced purchase price of US$1.265 billion because of the oil price slump.
Australian Barossa gas field owners make more progress towards supplying Darwin LNG plant
Australian LNG player Santos said that the Barossa natural gas field joint venture has entered into exclusive negotiations with the Darwin LNG stakeholders to the supply of backfill feed-gas and extend the lifespan of the ConocoPhillips-operated facility that came on stream in 2006.
Santos explained that the arrangement gives the Barossa venture an exclusive commercial negotiation period to reach a processing services agreement as well as settle on a tariff in anticipation of a final investment decision early in 2020.
The offshore Barossa gas field is located 300 kilometres north of Darwin and is part of the Santos Northern Australia portfolio.
The Darwin plant exports around 3.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG from a single liquefaction Train to Japanese utilities Tokyo Electric Power, now under the JERA Global Trading banner, and Tokyo Gas.
Santos has a 11.5 percent stake in Darwin LNG in Australia’s Northern Territory.
Adelaide-based Santos is also operator of the Gladstone LNG plant in Queensland and a stakeholder in Papua New Guinea LNG and its expansion project.
The Barossa project entered the front-end engineering and design phase of development in April 2018 and in May 2019 announced the contract to supply the Subsea Production System (SPS) and associated SPS installation support.
“This exclusivity confirms the confidence we had to commit to long-lead items last month and maintain project schedule to deliver gas to DLNG as early as possible,” said Santos Chief Executive Kevin Gallagher.
“Clearly, it also confirms Barossa’s status as the lead candidate for the supply of backfill gas to Darwin LNG,” he added.
“Bids have also been received and are being evaluated for the FPSO, gas export pipeline and development drilling. We’re getting on with the job,” stated Gallagher.
Santos holds a 25 percent interest in the Barossa-Caldita joint venture along with partners ConocoPhillips (37.5 percent and operator) and South Korea’s SK E&S (37.5 percent).
The project area encompasses petroleum permit NT/RL5 and, with future phased-development in the Caldita field to the south, petroleum permit NT/RL6.
