AsianOil: Santos takes FID on Darwin Pipeline Duplication Project

Australia’s Santos has taken a final investment decision (FID) to proceed with the Darwin Pipeline Duplication Project. The scheme will extend the Barossa gas export pipeline to the Darwin LNG facility and allow for the repurposing of the Bayu-Undan to Darwin pipeline that currently carries natural gas from offshore Timor-Leste to the Santos-operated LNG plant.

The project is due to get underway in 2023 at a cost of $311mn and begin to deliver natural gas from the offshore Barossa field during the first half of 2025. The Bayu-Undan, which has been producing oil and gas for the island nation since 2006, is expected to expire in 2023. For that reason, Timor-Leste is keen to use the field for carbon dioxide storage to maintain a revenue stream.

Kevin Gallagher, CEO and managing director of Santos, said in a statement that the FID would promote sustainable development and create jobs in Australia’s Northern Territory and Timor-Leste while building momentum for a carbon deduction solution for the entire region.

The pipeline project will allow Barossa to be carbon capture and storage (CCS) ready, he said. “The Bayu-Undan project has the potential to capture and store up to 10mn tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum, equivalent to about 1.5% of Australia’s carbon emissions each year from other projects, customers and other hard-to-abate industries, and has the potential to be the largest CCS project in the world,” Gallagher said.