Santos to Increase Spending for Barossa-Darwin Gas Pipeline

Australia's Santos Ltd said on Monday it would spend an additional $311 million to build a new pipeline to transport gas from its offshore Barossa field to its Darwin LNG plant in the Northern Territory.

First gas production at the Darwin LNG plant using Barossa gas is targeted for the first half of 2025. Gas from Barossa will replace gas from the Bayu-Undan field, which is set to stop producing later this year.

The new pipeline for Barossa gas will free up an existing pipeline from Bayu-Undan to transport carbon dioxide from Darwin into the depleted oil and gas field.

"Taking FID (final investment decision) on the Darwin Pipeline Duplication Project will allow for the Barossa project to be CCS (carbon capture and storage) ready," Chief Executive Officer Kevin Gallagher said.

"The Bayu-Undan CCS project has the potential to capture and store up to 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum."

Santos' partners in Barossa are South Korean energy company SK E&S and Japan's JERA.

Adelaide-based oil & gas producer Santos is targeting a final investment decision on the Bayu-Undan CCS project in 2023.

The Bayu-Undan field, located in waters off East Timor, and the CCS project are being heavily promoted by the Timor government.

(Reporting by Sameer Manekar; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)