Eni Replaces Shell as Australia Field Operator
Eni said December 21 it has acquired operatorship of the undeveloped Evans Shoal gas field, offshore Northern Australia. The Italian firm has acquired the whole 32.5% operating interest from Anglo-Dutch major Shell, and also becomes operator of the Retention Lease NT/RL7 located in the north Bonaparte Basin, offshore Northern Australia.
The field is some 300 km northwest of Darwin, where the Darwin LNG plant is operating. Eni estimates the resource base of the field is at least 8 trillion ft3 (227bn m3) of gas in place. It is among a number of fields under evaluation as feed gas suppliers to a potential second Darwin LNG liquefaction train, following a study begun April 2017 and due for completion end-2017.
Shell later confirmed the transaction but neither it nor Eni disclosed the deal's price.
The new Evans Shoal and NT/RL7 equity stakes are now Eni 65% as operator, Malaysian state Petronas 25%, and Japan's Osaka Gas 10%. The transaction has already been approved by the joint venture and the Australian government, said Eni, representing a further step forward in Eni's Asia-Pacific upstream growth plans, following its May 2017 startup of Indonesia's Jangkrik field that supplies gas to the Bontang LNG plant. Eni bought its original 32.5% stake in Evans Shoal from Australian independent Santos in late 2011 for $350mn.
Eni says it has been present in Australia since 2000 and in neighbouring Timor-Leste since 2006. In Australia, Eni is the operator with 100% of the Blacktip Gas Project, has a non-operated interest in the Bayu-Undan gas and condensate field and in the associated Darwin LNG plant. Eni also has interests in 14 offshore exploration and production licenses in Australia, Timor-Leste and jointly-administered waters, 13 of which are Eni-operated.