Santos Ltd., Adelaide, has completed the sale of its 35% interest in Kipper gas-condensate field in offshore Gippsland basin to Mitsui E&P Australia for $520 million (Aus.).
The agreement was signed in November 2015 when Santos declared the field was no longer central to its portfolio (OGJ Online, Nov. 9, 2015).
Kipper, which lies in 100 m of water 45 km offshore Victoria, is expected to come on stream this year to supply the Australia market with gas, condensate, and LPG.
The field has recoverable reserves of 620 bcf of gas and 30 million bbl of condensate and LPG.
The field was discovered in 1986, but it was not until July 2006 that production licence Vic/L25 was granted to ExxonMobil Corp., BHP Billiton, and Santos after government pressure was applied to the companies to begin development or relinquish the field.
The field production will be routed through the ExxonMobil/BHP Billiton pipeline network and onshore Longford treatment facilities, which have recently been upgraded with a mercury removal unit specially built to handle the Kipper flow.
