In addition an agreement has been reached over the adjacent Sunrise Field and the gas from here may well be processed at Darwin as well. The treaty also allows them to share the gas production, taxes and export earnings. The treaty between Australia and Timor Leste will benefit the region as the Darwin LNG project will result in new employment opportunities and demand for local goods and services. The project enables Australia and Timor Leste to commercialise the hydrocarbon resources within the Joint Petroleum Development Area (JPDA). The total project involved 700,000m³ of earth works, 55,000m³ of concrete, 4,500t of structural steel, 85km of piping, 650km of wire and cable and a 1.5km-long jetty.Ī plate for 26in-diameter pipeline was manufactured in Japan and the 292,000t of pipe was transported to Kuantan in Malaysia, where external concrete and anti-corrosion coating and internal coating was applied to the pipes. In addition a jetty on the west side of Wickham Point and a dock on northeast were constructed. This pipeline is also linked to the Northern Territory Power and Water Authority (PAWA) supply system.Ĭonstruction work also included LNG tanks, LNG train, utilities, storage and loading systems. A pipeline for transporting potable water to the site was also constructed prior to work starting on the plant. The LNG plant uses low-emission, aero-derivative-designed high-efficient gas turbines for refrigerant drivers.Īn access road to the project site was constructed by the government for the transportation of construction equipment, materials and personnel. This technology was also used in the Conoco Phillips Kenai LNG plant in Alaska for the first time and in the Atlantic LNG facility in Trinidad. Philips optimised cascade LNG process liquefaction technology is used in the project. “Construction work on the Darwin LNG project began in June 2003.” An inlet metering station to meter the incoming gas stream for domestic natural gas sales was also set up. The plant infrastructure includes a smaller single LNG processing train with a normal capacity of 3.24mtpa. The LNG plant processes the natural gas and cools and compresses it for storage in an LNG tank prior to export. The project site clearance and works on LNG train, storage and loading facilities was executed in accordance to an Operations Phase Environmental Management Programme (OEMP).
Reserves in the field are estimated at 96 billion cubic metres of gas and 64 million cubic metres of condensate (400 million barrels).
The offshore facility connected to the field currently produces over 110,000 barrels of liquid condensate a day and also relays gas via the pipeline to the Darwin LNG plant, where it is then converted into liquefied gas for export (22 million cubic metres a day). The Bayu-Undan Field is located in the Timor Sea, approximately 500km north of Darwin and 250km south of Timor Leste. Timor Sea Designated Authority approved the project and Bechtel Australia Pty Ltd was responsible for the construction. Sponsored by Conoco Phillips (which discovered the Bayu-Undan reserve in 1995), Tokyo Electric and Tokyo Gas, the project strengthens the economy in Australia and Timor Leste (formerly East Timor). “Bayu-Undan, in the Timor Sea, has estimated gas reserves of 3.4 trillion cubic feet.”