First LNG expected soon from ConocoPhillips' Bayu-Undan project

Sydney (Platts)--6Jan2006

The first shipment of LNG from the $3.3-bil ConocoPhillips-operated
Bayu-Undan project in the Timor Sea is expected within weeks, a spokesman for
the company said Friday. 
     A 135,000 cubic meter LNG tanker named Pacific Notus is expected to
anchor off the northern Australian city of Darwin within days to await the
completion of commissioning of the Bayu-Undan project's 3.2-mil mt/year
onshore LNG plant at Point Wickham, the spokesman added. 
     The first shipment is for Tokyo Electric Power, which along with Tokyo
Gas has a 17-year contract for up to 3-mil mt/year of Bayu-Undan LNG. The two
Japanese customers also hold a 10.08% equity stake in the project.
ConocoPhillips owns 56.72% of Bayu-Undan. Other partners are Italy's ENI
(12.04%), Australian Santos (10.6%) and Japan's Inpex (10.52%). 
     The ConocoPhillips spokesman said the commissioning of the LNG plant was
"moving along nicely." He said it was "probably a little optimistic" to expect
the first LNG shipment to be loaded within days. "Weeks are more realistic,"
he added.
     The Bayu-Undan project is Australia's second LNG facility. The nation
began producing LNG at the Woodside Petroleum-operated North West Shelf
project in 1989. The North West Shelf has recently boosted its capacity to
11.9-mil m/year and is scheduled to expand by another 4.4-mil mt/year with the
addition of a fifth train in late 2008. 
     The Bayu-Undan field, which is located 500 km (310 miles) off Darwin,
contains estimated recoverable reserves of 400-mil bbl of LPG and condensate
and 3.4-trillion cubic meters of natural gas. The first phase of the
development, involving the stripping of liquids from the field's gas stream
and re-injecting the residual gas for future use in the LNG project, started
up in the first quarter of 2004 and produces around 110,000 b/d of combined
condensate and LPG.
--Christine Forster, christine_forster@platts.com

Please visit: www.platts.com

Their coverage of energy matters is extensive!!.