Santos hires Worley for its carbon capture and storage project in Timor Sea

Australian energy giant Santos has awarded a deal for its carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at a gas and condensate field in the Timor Sea to a compatriot engineering company, Worley.  

Worley revealed on Tuesday that it was awarded a professional services contract by Santos to support the Bayu-Undan CCS project.

Chris Ashton, Chief Executive Officer of Worley, remarked: “We are excited to strengthen our relationship with Santos and support this important carbon capture and storage project. This project is one of the ways we are helping our customers to decarbonise and repurpose existing assets as we deliver a more sustainable world.”

Under the terms of this deal, Worley will provide front-end engineering and design (FEED) services for the Bayu-Undan offshore facilities and pipeline, including the re-purposing of the Bayu-Undan facility and the offshore section of the gas export pipeline from hydrocarbons to carbon dioxide service.

In addition, the engineering firm will provide FEED services for the life extension of the Bayu-Undan facility and pipeline to enable continued safe and reliable operation. Worley explains that the professional services will be executed by its office in Perth, Australia, with support from its global teams.

To remind, Santos signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Timor-Leste regulator Autoridade Nacional do Petróleo e Minerais (ANPM) in September last year to progress carbon capture and storage (CCS) at the Bayu-Undan field.

According to the Australian energy giant, the proposed CCS project entered the front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase in March 2022. At the time, the firm explained that the Bayu-Undan FEED work would include engineering and design for additional CO2 processing capacity at Darwin LNG.

Santos is the operator of the Bayu-Undan offshore gas production facility and Darwin LNG with a 43.4 per cent interest in each while the remaining partners are SK E&S (25 per cent), INPEX (11.4 per cent), ENI (11 per cent), JERA (6.1 per cent) and Tokyo Gas (3.1 per cent).

A final investment decision on Bayu-Undan CCS is expected to take place in 2023. Prior to this, it is subject to relevant regulatory frameworks and agreements in both Timor-Leste and Australia.

This CCS project is expected to store up to 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum, equivalent to about 1.5 per cent of Australia’s annual carbon emissions. Worley points out that this project has the potential to be “one of the largest CCS projects in the world and one of the many that will be critical to transitioning to a low-carbon future.”

The Bayu-Undan field is located approximately 500 kilometres off the northwest coast of Darwin, Australia, and 200 kilometres off the southeast coast of Timor-Leste.