GLNG Sanctions 137-well $303mn Oz Arcadia Gas Project
Australian Santos and its Gladstone LNG partners will invest more than A$400mn ($303mn) in the 137-well Arcadia gas project in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, Santos said May 31.
“The initial phase of the Arcadia development will at its peak deliver in excess of 75 TJ/day [2mn m3/d] to the gas supply for the GLNG project. This is great news for both the domestic gas market and our LNG exports,” Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher said.
The A$400mn investment will add to the A$900mn the partners are already investing in upstream developments in the Maranoa, Western Downs, Central Highlands and Banana regions of Queensland this year.
The Arcadia project, located about 680 kilometres northwest of Brisbane, will involve drilling 137 new wells and constructing a 140 km gas and water gathering network, two 4G communication towers, a new compression station, a 4 ML per day water treatment plant, a 5 MW gas-fired power station, and associated roads and infrastructure, Santos said.
Gallagher said the decision to sanction the project follows a “very successful” 13-well pilot program which tested changes to the planned well design and operating philosophy.
“We have reduced our connected well costs in Queensland by more than 70% since 2015 to become Australia’s lowest cost onshore operator,” Gallagher said.
“If you want to put downward pressure on gas prices, reducing the cost of supply is a good place to start,” he said.
“Santos will apply our low cost operating model, and a well design and water management approach tailored for the Arcadia field, to extract more gas for less money,” he said.
France’s Total, Malaysia’s Petronas and South Korea’s KOGAS also hold interests in GLNG.