By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Oct. 15 -- The boards of Adelaide-based Santos Ltd., Australia Worldwide Exploration Ltd. (AWE), and Japan's Mitsui & Co. Ltd. approved the $200 million development of Casino natural gas field on VIC/P44 in the Otway basin off western Victoria.
Casino field, the first commercial development within VIC/P44, is 29 km off Port Campbell in water 70 m deep. The consortium expects shortly to spud its first exploration well, Martha 1. Field construction activities are slated for first quarter 2005.
Raw gas will be transported to Victoria from the field through a pipeline to the Iona processing facilities of SPI Electricity Pty. Ltd.—trading as TXU Australia—which has concluded a new, larger gas sales contract with the consortium.
First production is anticipated in first quarter 2006, with Casino's annual gas production projected to plateau at 35 petajoules (PJ)/year (33 trillion btu/year).
VIC P/44 participants are Santos, the operator with a 50% interest, AWE subsidiary Peedamulla Petroleum Pty. Ltd. 25%, and Mitsui unit Mittwell Energy Resources Pty Ltd. 25%.
Gas sales deal
The approvals followed finalization of a larger-than-originally announced gas sales agreement with TXU (OGJ Online, Mar.6, 2004). The new contract will enable Santos, AWE, and Mitsui to supply TXU with as much as 420 PJ of gas over 12 years. The contract, worth possibly more than $1.7 billion (Aust.), enables immediate commercialization of future gas discoveries and encourages further exploration.
The agreement, conditional upon regulatory approvals, also contains an option for an additional 105 PJ of gas for 3 more years at TXU's Iona plant.
