BW Offshore has achieved first gas on its BW Opal floating production, storage and offloading unit (FPSO), marking a major milestone in Santos’ Barossa LNG project offshore Australia.
“While discussions and final confirmatory due diligence have continued to be collaborative, the parties are yet to reach agreement on acceptable terms of a binding SIA [scheme implementation agreement]. Further, Santos has this week been informed by the XRG consortium that even if the terms of an SIA were agreed and final due diligence was complete, it will still not be in a position to sign a binding SIA, as it is yet to obtain requisite final approvals which are required by the XRG consortium in order to enter into a binding transaction”.
The Nanushuk play in the Pikka Unit represents one of the largest conventional oil discoveries made in the USA in the last 30 years, and the Pikka Phase 1 project is the most significant development on Alaska’s North Slope in more than 20 years, according to the company. Pikka has low emissions intensity, placing it in the top quartile of oil and gas development projects globally for greenhouse gas emissions performance, the company said.
“Santos already produces Narrabri gas from appraisal wells for the Wilga Park power station that generates electricity for the northwest NSW grid. This experience, combined with our project development and production experience in Queensland’s Surat Basin, gives us confidence that Narrabri gas will be a very competitive source of domestic gas supply for the east coast market that is further advantaged by proximity to customers in NSW,” said Santos managing director and chief executive Kevin Gallagher.