Bayu-Undan gas recycle project development plan approved

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

Unit operator Phillips Petroleum Co. said Feb. 28 that the development plan for the Bayu-Undan gas recycle project has been approved by the Joint Authority for the Timor Gap Zone of Cooperation.

Project participants approved the gas recycle phase of the development in late 1999 and Phillips said that with receipt of this final government approval, engineering, procurement and construction activities on this phase of the project development will proceed.

Phillips said that Bayu-Undan is a world-class gas and gas condensate field that has been fully appraised and contains estimated recoverable reserves of 400 million barrels of condensate and liquefied petroleum gas and 3.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The field straddles production sharing contract areas 91-12 and 91-13 in Area A of the Timor Gap Zone of Cooperation between East Timor and Australia. The field is located in 80 meters of water about 500 kilometers northwest of Darwin, Australia, and 250 kilometers south of Suai, East Timor.

The $1.4 billion gas recycle project will involve production and processing of wet gas, separation and storage of condensate, propane and butane, and reinjection of dry natural gas back into the reservoir. First liquids production is scheduled in late 2003 and full commercial production in early 2004.

Phillips said this will be the first major development of gas resources in the zone and “should contribute significantly to economic stability and development in East Timor and throughout the region. It also confirms the commercial success of a major new gas province in the central Timor Sea.”

Both domestic and regional natural gas markets are being targeted and participants plan to proceed with the second phase of development once sufficient markets are secured.

The Bayu-Undan project co-venturers and their initial participating interest include Phillips (50.3 percent), Santos (11.8 percent), Inpex (11.7 percent), Kerr-McGee Corp. (11.2 percent), Petroz (8.3 percent) and British-Borneo (6.7 percent).