LNG

July 18 (LNGJ) - Australian LNG operator Santos said LNG sales revenues in the second quarter dropped to US$762 million from US$838M in the prior-year quarter. Santos added that 22 LNG cargoes were shipped during the three months from the Gladstone LNG export plant in Queensland. However, no LNG cargoes were delivered from the Darwin LNG plant as the Bayu-Undan feed-gas field continues to deplete and volumes were being sent into the Australian Northern Territory market.

   “The Barossa gas project to backfill the Darwin LNG plant is 77 percent complete,” said the company. Santos added that a further 27 cargoes were exported from the Papua New Guinea liquefaction plant where the Adelaide-based company is a shareholder. Santos also noted that the company’s Moomba carbon-capture and sequestration project in south Australia was being commissioned and was on schedule for first injections of CO2 this year.

UK-based engineering firm Wood Plc has been chosen as lead consultant for an independent study of the next big potential Asia-Pacific LNG export project, the Greater Sunrise Development using gas resources from the Timor Sea.

Tamboran Resources, an exploration and production company currently valued at A$391.5 million (US$258M) on the Australian Securities Exchange, is launching an initial public offering of shares in the US for shale-gas assets in Australia’s equivalent of the Marcellus Shale in the Northeast US.

Santos Ltd, the Australian operator of two liquefied natural gas export plants and a main shareholder in Papua New Guinea LNG assets, has signed a long-term supply deal with Hokkaido Gas Co., the Japanese utility.

Santos, the Australian LNG operator and owner of assets in Papua New Guinea, said it would continue to work through land access, native title, pipeline licensing and the environmental approvals processes to get Narrabri Gas volumes and the Hunter Gas Pipeline ready for a final investment decision and to provide supplies for the East Coast of Australia.

The Narrabri Gas Project is 100 percent committed to the domestic market and could supply up to 50 percent of the natural gas needs of New South Wales.

Santos has maintained that gas produced close to market will always have a cost advantage over gas imported from Western Australia or from overseas and would help to put downward pressure on domestic gas and energy prices for NSW customers.

Gladstone LNG plant operator Santos, based in Adelaide, is developing its own domestic gas volumes called the Narrabri project in NSW and which would supply the largest Australian city Sydney.

The Narrabri project is a coal-seam gas venture located near the state border between Queensland and NSW.

The venture is based on developing the CSG in the northwest of NSW with up to 850 wells and which Santos has always pointed out would be much less expensive than gas from anywhere else.

LNG interests

Santos also operates the Darwin LNG in the Northern Territory of Australia. It additionally has stakes in the Papua New Guinea LNG export plant operated by US major ExxonMobil Corp. and in the expansion project called Papua LNG.

“Santos notes the decision by the Full Federal Court to allow the appeal against the determination by the National Native Title Tribunal that proposed future acts, being the grants of Petroleum Production Lease Application Numbers 13, 14, 15 and 16 for the Narrabri Gas Project, may be done,” said Santos.

“The Court has determined the National Native Title Tribunal erred at law by declining to have regard to evidence on climate impacts that was tendered on behalf of the Gomeroi applicant,” it added.

“The Court did not make any findings in relation to Santos’ conduct. Santos has at all times negotiated with the Gomeroi people in good faith,” it stated.

Santos the attempted to explain that the Court’s orders regarding next steps are yet to be made.

“Santos will continue to engage constructively with the Gomeroi people and work closely with them to ensure their heritage is protected,” the company said.

Santos also hopes that they benefit from the project development, including through training and employment, and involvement in all aspects of cultural heritage protection and management.

While gas is going to be required for decades to come in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region and North Asia, corporate investment in more supply is the only way to ensure reliability and affordability of energy while making the system cleaner. 

Feb 26 (LNGJ) - Santos, the Australian and Papua New Guinea LNG plant shareholder and operator, has secured finance for the company’s share of the US$220 million Moomba carbon-capture and storage (CCS) project in South Australia. The facilities, arranged over five years and totalling US$150M, will be used to cover project costs incurred to date and to use as the project progresses to the first carbon injection targeted for mid-2024.

   Santos said the willingness of banks to fund energy transition projects at very competitive rates indicated their recognition of CCS as a vital tool to control carbon. “The strong support Santos has received is underpinned by the progress we are making focused on reducing our own emissions and those of our customers, as well as on developing low-carbon fuels as customer demand evolves,” said Santos Chief Executive Kevin Gallagher.

Santos, the Asia-Pacific LNG operator with assets in Australia and Papua New Guinea and that recently held unsuccessful merger talks with Australian peer Woodside, has issued its annual reserves statement showing resources comprising 84 percent natural gas and 16 percent liquids.

Australian energy company Santos reported solid annual and quarterly earnings with steady cargo flows from Gladstone LNG in Queensland and from Papua New Guinea while legal hold-ups were removed to push forward with bringing new feed-gas to Darwin LNG from where only one cargo was shipped in the fourth-quarter.

The Australian LNG plant operator Santos welcomed a decision from the Federal Court of Australia to clear the way for pipe-laying to commence for the Barossa Gas Export Pipeline to help provide new feed-gas supplies to the Darwin LNG plant in Australia’s Northern Territory.

The decision in favour of Santos saw the Court dismissing and application and discharging an injunction that had prevented pipelay activities south of the 86 kilometres (53 miles) point offshore.

“As per the ruling and in accordance with the Environment Plan in force for the activity, Santos will continue pipe-laying activity for the Barossa Gas Project,” said Adelaide-based Santos.

Barossa plan

The Santos-operated Barossa Gas Project is an offshore gas and condensate venture that proposes to provide a new sources of gas to the existing Darwin LNG facility
for which the previous resources from the Bayu Undan gas field in the Timor Sea have depleted.

Barossa gas shareholders also include South Korean and Japanese investors, including the largest Japanese LNG importer JERA Co. Inc.

Under the renewed Barossa plan feed gas will come from the Barossa field, located in Australian waters about 285km offshore Darwin, from 2025.

Project infrastructure will comprise a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facility and the subsea production system and the pipelines.

Santos noted that up to eight subsea wells are planned to be drilled in the Barossa field with a contingency plan for an additional two wells.

Gas and condensate would be gathered from the wells through the subsea production system and then brought to the FPSO facility via a network of subsea infrastructure.

Initial processing would occur at the FPSO facility, to separate the natural gas, water and condensate extracted from the Barossa field.

The dry natural gas would then be transported through the gas pipeline for onshore processing and export from Darwin LNG.

The condensate would be transferred from the FPSO to specialised tankers for export.

The US finished 2023 at the top of the liquefied natural gas exports league as shipments to Europe were ramped up to replace Russian volumes while Australia finished second because of maintenance, strikes and regulatory obstructions for future ventures and Qatar was in third place ahead of its massive expansion plans.