Offshore staff
ADELAIDE, Australia – Santos has signed a letter of intent to sell a 12.5% interest in the Barossa project offshore Northern Australia to Tokyo-based energy business JERA.
JERA has a 6.1% stake in the Darwin LNG onshore complex that will receive the Barossa field’s gas.
The LOI advances partner alignment between the Darwin LNG and Barossa joint ventures for development of Barossa as backfill for Darwin LNG.
Previously Santos agreed to sell a 25% interest in Darwin LNG to South Korea’s SK E&S.
Managing director and CEO Kevin Gallagher said that following Santos’ completion of ConocoPhillips’ Northern Australia and Timor-Leste portfolio, the company will own 43.4% of Darwin LNG and 50% of Barossa.
It is in talks with other parties concerning further selldowns to bring down its stake in Barossa to around 40%, as well as continuing talks with buyers for the gas volumes.
“However, as we announced on March 23, given the uncertain economic impact of COVID-19 combined with lower oil prices, we expect to defer FID on Barossa until business conditions improve,” he added.
“Barossa remains an important project for Santos due to its brownfield nature and low cost of supply, and we will continue to use this time to achieve alignment and seek to further strengthen the economics of the project,” Gallagher said.
04/16/2020
