Oz Approves Barossa Project

Australia’s offshore petroleum regulator has approved the development plan for the Barossa-Caldita assets, which are in the Bonaparte Basin in the Timor Sea, about 300 km north-northwest of the Northern Territory.

“This is one of the major regulatory steps leading to offshore project development and petroleum production, and it reinforces Barossa’s position as the only gas supply source capable of meeting Darwin LNG’s timetable,” Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher said March 21. The liquefaction facilities in northern Australia will be needing fresh gas supplies early next decade.

Santos holds a 25% interest in the Barossa-Caldita joint venture and is also a joint venture partner in Darwin LNG with an 11.5% interest.

A spokesman for the operator of Darwin LNG, Bayu-Undan, and Barossa-Caldita, ConocoPhillips said that Bayu-Undan is fully contracted to Darwin LNG until 2022.

“This year we are drilling three infill wells to extend Bayu-Undan field life from [roughly] 2020 to [roughly] 2022 and provide a greater degree of production assurance for that field," he said.

Participants in the Bayu-Undan/Darwin LNG project along with ConocoPhillips (56.94%) and Santos are Japanese Inpex (11.38%), Italian 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.

“ConocoPhillips’ priority is to successfully backfill Darwin LNG from 2023. As Darwin LNG Operator, we will consider all viable options and seek to select the best value outcome in the interests of the Darwin LNG JV,” the ConocoPhillips spokesman said.

“Barossa continues to progress well as a DLNG Backfill options and we are on course to move the project to front-end engineering and design in the second quarter of this year,” he added.