Santos signs MOU with TIMOR GAP for Bayu-Undan CCS

Santos Ltd. and its Bayu-Undan joint venture partners have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Timor-Leste’s national oil company TIMOR GAP to explore partnership opportunities for the proposed Bayu-Undan carbon capture and storage (CCS) project offshore Timor-Leste.

The project has the potential to reduce the absolute emissions and emissions intensity of Australian and Timor-Leste gas and LNG projects, as well as other hard to abate industries in the region.

The storage reservoirs are well understood, have previously held natural gas and condensate in place for tens of millions of years, and will provide safe and permanent CO₂ storage, the companies said. The proposed project would use existing pipelines and other infrastructure.

The MOU with TIMOR GAP includes sharing information about Bayu-Undan CCS and exploring potential partnership opportunities, including equity participation for TIMOR GAP in the Bayu-Undan CCS project.

The Bayu-Undan CCS project is part of Santos’ three-hub CCS strategy that includes the Moomba CCS project, now 70% complete and on track to store up to 1.7 million tonnes/year (tpy) of CO₂ beginning in 2024.

The MOU follows four non-binding MOUs for CO₂ supply to Bayu-Undan CCS that indicate demand for CO₂ storage at Bayu-Undan CCS could be more than 10 million tpy (OGJ Online, May 4, 2023).

Santos is operator at Bayu-Undan (43.4%) with partners SK E&S (25%), INPEX Corp. (11.4%), Eni SPA (11%), and Tokyo Timor Sea Resources Pty Ltd. (9.2%).