Santos completes Barossa stake sale to Jera
Australian gas producer Santos on April 29 announced the completion of the sale of a 12.5% interest in the Barossa project to Japan’s Jera following the completion of all regulatory approvals. Cash proceeds to Santos at completion were $327mn.
The Barossa gas and condensate project to backfill Darwin LNG was 33% complete at the end of March and remains on schedule and budget for the first production in the first half of 2025, Santos said.
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The field is located in Australian waters off the Northern Territory. The Barossa development will comprise a floating production, storage and offloading vessel, subsea production wells, supporting subsea infrastructure and a gas export pipeline tied into the existing Bayu-Undan to Darwin LNG pipeline.
Santos is the operator of the project with a 50% stake, South Korea’s SK E&S owns 37.5% and Jera 12.5%. The Japanese company will receive about 0.425mn metric tons/year of LNG from the project, which is equivalent to its equity stake in the Barossa gas field. Santos sanctioned the $3.6bn project in March last year.
News agency Reuters in March this year reported that Indigenous Australians have filed a South Korean lawsuit to block financing for the Barossa gas field development. The complainants will argue that an injunction should be granted as proper consultations were not held with Indigenous communities. Sealife crucial to the islanders' way of life could also be harmed by one of the pipelines to Barossa, they said.