ENI has reportedly paused the sale of its Australian oil and gas assets due to the absence of acceptable bids.
The assets include a 100% interest in Blacktip gas-condensate field in the Bonaparte Gulf, along with a 108 km pipeline to a shore-based processing plant at Wadeye on the northwest tip of the Northern Territory. ENI also has non-operating interests in Bayu-Undan gas-condensate field in the Timor Sea and the associated Darwin LNG plant.
The assets produced a total of about 10 MMboe in 2019 according the latest figures on the company’s website.
ENI engaged Citibank in May 2020 to organize the Australian exit as part of its strategy to rationalize its portfolio. However the company said any sale would be dependent on an adequate value being received.
Estimates of value range from $600-780 million.
Blacktip, in production license WA-33-L and discovered in 2001, was brought on stream in 2009. The field’s initial reserves were estimated to be 150 MMboe contained in stacked reservoirs of Lower Triassic and Permo-Carboniferous age.
The company submitted environmental plans for a third production well on the field in March 2019 (OGJ Online, Mar. 21, 2019).
In December 2019, ENI (and Tap Oil) surrendered retention lease WA-34-R in the Bonaparte basin of Western Australia that contained the Prometheus and Rubicon gas discoveries after concluding that returns on potential developments were not sufficiently attractive when put against the costs and risks (OGJ Online, Jan. 7, 2020).
