Cooper Energy Ltd., Adelaide, has signed natural gas supply agreements with Sydney distributor and retailer AGL Energy Ltd. for production from Cooper’s Sole field offshore Gippsland basin and its Casino Henry operations in the offshore Otway basin.
Sole field development is nearing completion and poised to become the newest gas supply source in southeastern Australia. It will come on stream on completion of the upgrade of the onshore Orbost gas plant. Plant commissioning and the start of gas delivery is expected within the third quarter. The project will supply 68 terajoules/day of gas.
AGL is already a cornerstone gas customer for the Sole field development, having taken 60% of the total volume contracted in 2016 to secure project financing.
Under the new agreements with Cooper Energy, AGL has contracted to take, at current market prices:
• A share of the 2019 calendar year production from Sole, inclusive of commissioning gas.
• Up to 4 petajoules of gas from Sole from Jan. 1, 2020, to Apr. 30, 2020. This tranche is an extension of the gas volume AGL previously contracted from May 1, 2020.
AGL also has contracted to take 100% of Cooper’s share of the gas production from Casino Henry field for the 2020 calendar year.
David Maxwell, Cooper Energy managing director, said the agreements with AGL are the first from a Sole marketing process that began in the first half of this year. He added that negotiations should result in the signing of additional agreements “in the coming months.” These include coverage of 2019 Sole production that remains uncontracted and longer-term gas sales on uncontracted gas from Sole for 2020-23.