Oz Barossa Project Enters Feed

The Australian Barossa-Caldita offshore project, which is intended to be used as backfill for Darwin LNG, has entered into the front-end engineering and design phase with a final investment decision intended to be made at the end of next year, joint venture partners in the project said April 24.

“As operator of the Barossa project, we believe Barossa is a leading candidate to extend the life of the Darwin LNG facility for another two decades, hence our decision to enter the Feed phase,” said ConocoPhillips Australia West president Chris Wilson.

“During the Feed phase the costs and technical definition for Barossa will be matured, access arrangements negotiated with the owners of the Darwin LNG facility and Bayu-Undan to Darwin pipeline, and LNG sales agreements negotiated and finalised,” he said.

Darwin LNG infrastructure owners are still assessing several other options to backfill the facility from 2023 when the current offshore gas supply from Bayu-Undan is expected to be exhausted, ConocoPhillips added.

Santos, which holds a 25% interest in the Barossa-Caldita JV, said the project is the best option for DLNG. The company also has a 11.5% interest in Darwin LNG. “The Barossa Feed decision consolidates its position as the leading candidate for DLNG backfill when Bayu-Undan production ceases in the early 2020s,” Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher said.

Participants in the Bayu-Undan/Darwin LNG project along with ConocoPhillips (56.94%) and Santos are INPEX (11.38%), Eni (10.99%) and Tokyo Timor Sea Resources (9.19%). And, along with ConocoPhillips (37.5%) and Santos, SK E&S Australia holds a 37.5% share in the Barossa-Caldita assets, which are in the Bonaparte Basin in the Timor Sea, some 300 km north-northwest of the Northern Territory.