Santos has high hopes for Lasseter: Update

Market: Natural gas
22/08/14

Adds quote, extra information, paragraphs 5,9

Australian independent Santos has made a gas and condensate discovery at the Lasseter exploration well in the Browse basin, offshore Western Australia, adding to a cluster of finds identified as potentially supplying LNG projects in the area.

Lasseter is near the Crown discovery made by Santos in 2012. Both finds are in the same permit WA-274-P. Santos has a 30pc interest in WA-274-P and is its operator, with Chevron owning 50pc and Japanese upstream group Inpex with 20pc.

The Lasseter discovery is also near the Ichthys gas, condensate and LPG field, which is being developed for the 8.4mn t/yr Ichthys LNG project operated by Inpex.

If further drilling proves its early potential, Santos said the new gas field could be developed with Crown, as well as other fields in the area, such as the Poseidon field operated by ConocoPhillips.

"If we can work with others we could be looking at multiple trains if you bring together Lasseter, Crown, Poseidon, Barossa, Petrel, Tern and Frigate. There is lot of gas in the area, and that provides multiple options," Santos chief executive David Knox said.

Santos previously estimated that its permits in the Browse basin could be sitting on about 10 trillion ft³ (283bn m³) of gas resources.

"I think we could be looking at working with others to develop Lasseter, such as the Poseidon field, which is just to the west," Knox said. "Although we have no proven estimates yet, it is a very significant discovery."

The Poseidon discovery is operated by ConocoPhillips and its partners include Australian utility and upstream group Origin Energy. The Poseidon partners are looking at transporting natural gas to LNG production facilities in Darwin in the Northern Territory, where ConocoPhillips operates the 3.7mn t/yr Darwin LNG facility and has approval for a 10mn t/yr plant or through a standalone floating LNG (FLNG) facility. They are also looking at a FLNG facility for Poseidon.

Santos together with French utility group GDF Suez dropped plans to develop the 2.4mn t/yr Bonaparte FLNG project from gas in the Petrel, Tern and Frigate in the Bonaparte basin offshore Northern Territory. The fields are located 250km west of Darwin. Santos has an 11.5pc stake in the plant. ConocoPhillips is also the operator of the Barossa and Caldita gas discoveries in the Bonaparte basin.

km/rjd

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Santos has high hopes for Lasseter: Update

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