INVESTMENT of more than $200 million in exploration during the next few years by Santos Ltd in Queensland has already started to pay off for the Adelaide-based hydrocarbon producer.
The company has just concluded a deal to sell 120 petajoules of natural gas to Queensland power generator, CS Energy Ltd, over a 10 to 15 year period.
This will provide investment of more than $300 million in gas-fired generation capacity and infrastructure development in Queensland.
Gas sourced from Santos’ 100 per cent-owned Scotia field in ATP-378-P in eastern Queensland will be supplied to CS Energy’s proposed 385 megawatt gas turbine at its Swanbank power station in Ipswich, starting July 1, 2002.
The development by Santos of field infrastructure and the construction of gas processing facilities at Scotia will start immediately.
Santos’ ability to supply Scotia gas for this project reflects its willingness to invest in high risk exploration in Queensland, and comes hard on the heels of its $240 million Carnarvon Basin acquisition on the North-West Shelf of WA.
This acquisition included 28.57 per cent of the Barrow Island and 35.71 per cent of the Thevenard Island joint venture, operated by Chevron.
