Santos increases operatorship position in offshore Bonaparte basin

Santos Ltd., Adelaide, has boosted its operatorship position in the Bonaparte basin off northern Australia through an agreement with fellow explorer Beach Energy Ltd., also of Adelaide.

The agreement aligns interests across three permits in the Northern Territory jurisdiction—NT/P82, NT/P85, and NT/P84—and one offshore Western Australia, WA-454-P, such that the two companies become 50-50 joint venture partners in each with Santos as operator.

Santos’ position in the Bonaparte already includes 11.5% interest in Bayu-Undan gas-condensate field and the Darwin LNG plant and a 25% interest in Barossa gas field, which is currently in front-end engineering and design stage.

NT/P82 and NT/P85 lie immediately southwest of the Barossa project area where Santos ran a 4,347-sq km 3D seismic survey last year.

The NT/P84 and WA-454-P permits are south and southeast of the Petrel-Tern-Frigate gas discoveries. Santos has made separate agreements with Neptune Energy Group Ltd., London, whereby Santos will move to 100% interest in Tern and Frigate fields and 40.25% interest in Petrel field.

Kevin Gallagher, Santos chief executive officer, said the new equity alignments and operatorships will enable the company to spearhead a more strategic approach to the next phase of exploration in the Bonaparte region.

“We continue to chase material resource opportunities offshore northern Australia to support our established infrastructure position in Darwin, with an eye to both export and domestic markets,” Gallagher said.

The next move in the four permits is to evaluate new and existing seismic data to build inventory and define potential drilling targets within the next 2 years. NT/P82 and NT/P85 south of Barossa project will be a key focus of this work because gas from Barossa and smaller Caldita field nearby is a leading candidate to backfill supply to Darwin LNG as the Bayu-Undan field is depleted.

Santos also has an option to acquire a 40% interest and operatorship of inshore permit WA-488-P where processing of a new 3D seismic survey over the large beehive prospect is nearing completion.