New Timor Sea Gas Province

ADAM GILES - CHIEF MINISTER

Chief Minister Adam Giles has welcomed confirmation of a potential new Timor Sea gas province on the Territory’s doorstep.

Resources company Eni has just completed drilling an appraisal well at the Evans Shoal Gas Field in the Bonaparte Basin, 300 kilometres northwest of Darwin.

“The results of this assessment drilling by Eni have revealed the Evans Shoal Gas Field contains at least eight trillion cubic feet (TCF) of raw gas, with a likely three to four TCF of that being recoverable for processing,” Mr Giles said.

“It presents another exciting gas opportunity for the Territory and is one more encouraging step in our efforts to establish Darwin as North Australia’s gas processing and marine supply hub."

Eni and its joint venture partners Shell (operator of the permit area), Petronas Carigali and Osaka Gas are now analysing the results and will now start looking at a range of development concepts for the field.

"The Country Liberals government is committed to facilitating the speedy and economic development of this new gas province in a way that brings the greatest financial and social benefit to the Territory,” Mr Giles said.

“To put the Evans Shoal find in context, the Bayu Undan field, which currently feeds the Darwin LNG Plant at Wickham Point, was developed on the basis of 3.4 TCF of gas. Evans Shoal is of a similar scale and could be the next big gas project for the Territory.

“We now look forward to the results from other Eni drilling in the same area which could improve the chances of this gas province being developed.

“Eni is currently drilling the nearby Blackwood Gas Field with results due later this year. If this discovery proves encouraging, there may be an opportunity for it to be developed in conjunction with Evans Shoal.

“The Country Liberals Government is working hard to create a continuous flow of major projects to the Territory over the years ahead, breaking the traditional boom-bust cycle of large-scale development.

“Good long term planning is crucial to making this a reality in terms of our gas processing capacity and infrastructure, as well as accelerated residential land release.

"Pursuing additional LNG and domestic gas infrastructure, including a pipeline network across the NT linking into the East Coast gas market, is another important part of this long term planning."

Source: ProjectLink.com.au

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