Australian LNG plant operator Santos welcomes court ruling putting Darwin LNG backfill project on track again
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.
Australian LNG operator Santos silent on merger with Woodside but progresses with Barossa gas and Moomba CCS
Australian liquefied natural gas operator Santos has yet to detail any additional progress in its merger talks the Australian peer Woodside Energy for a combination valued at A$88 billion (US$58Bln), though has made advances on the Barossa gas project for Darwin LNG and signed deals with two Japanese companies for the Moomba carbon-capture and storage venture.
