Bayu-Undan
gas development plan approved
Posted: 16 June 2003
ConocoPhillips, through various affiliates, and its co-venturers
is pleased to announce that the gas development plan for the Bayu-Undan
project has been approved by the Timor Sea Designated Authority.
The project participants have unanimously approved the gas development
phase of the project and, with receipt of this final approval, will
proceed immediately with engineering, procurement and construction
for the three million ton per year Darwin LNG Project.
"This landmark approval by the Timor Sea Designated Authority
marks a significant event for the further development of reserves
in the Timor Sea area," said Stephen Brand, president of ConocoPhillips
91-12 Proprietary Limited.
"This project will have positive impacts for all the stakeholders
in the region and specifically for Timor-Leste, Australia and the
Northern Territory. ConocoPhillips appreciates the support that
all of the stakeholders have provided during this approval process."
Bayu-Undan is a world-class gas condensate field that has been
fully appraised and contains estimated recoverable hydrocarbons
of 400 million barrels of condensate and liquefied petroleum gas
(LPG) and 3.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The field straddles production sharing contract areas 03-12 and
03-13 in the Joint Petroleum Development Area between Timor-Leste
and Australia. It is located in 80 meters of water about 250 kilometers
south of Suai, Timor-Leste, and 500 kilometers northwest of Darwin,
Australia.
The US$1.5 billion gas development project will involve a gas pipeline
from Bayu-Undan to Darwin and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility
located at Wickham Point, Darwin.
The LNG plant will utilize ConocoPhillips' proprietary Optimized
Cascade LNG Process, which is also used at a company-operated LNG
plant in Kenai, Alaska, and in other projects around the world.
The first LNG cargo is scheduled for delivery in early 2006.
Darwin LNG Pty Ltd, currently a ConocoPhillips affiliate but soon
to be owned by all project participants, signed a Heads of Agreement
(HOA) in early 2002 with The Tokyo Electric Power Company, Incorporated
(TEPCO) and Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. (TG) detailing terms for the sale
of three million tons per year of LNG.
The agreement covers a 17-year period and commits nearly 100 percent
of the proven reserves of this field.
The approval of the development plan by the Timor Sea Designated
Authority satisfies the remaining condition precedent necessary
for the HOA to have binding effect and for the project to proceed.
As previously announced in early 2002, ConocoPhillips will sell
Phillips Petroleum Timor Sea Inc. to TEPCO and TG, which will result
in the Japanese companies owning 22.5 percent in PSC 03-13 which
currently equates to a 10.08 percent interest in the unitized Bayu-Undan
field, pipeline and the LNG facility.
The project participants previously approved the gas recycle phase
of the development in late 1999 and received approval of the original
gas recycle project development plan in early 2000.
The Bayu-Undan gas recycle project is expected to begin production
of condensate and LPG in 2004.
ConocoPhillips is operator of the Bayu-Undan project, with a current
controlling interest of 64.2 per cent.
Co-venturers' current participating interests include: Santos and
STOSY, 11.8 per cent; INPEX, 11.7 per cent; and Eni Australia, 12.3
per cent.
ConocoPhillips is an integrated petroleum company with interests
around the world.
Headquartered in Houston, the company had approximately 56,600
employees and US$80 billion of assets as of March 31, 2003.
For more information see www.conocophillips.com.
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
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