Our Santos Energy Solutions business includes midstream processing of Santos’ and third-party gas and liquids. It also provides decarbonisation and carbon management services and will develop clean fuels as the market and customer demand evolves.
By building a decarbonisation and carbon management services business, Santos Energy Solutions will support development of clean fuels to meet customer demand. Santos Energy Solutions receives no revenue from the sale of hydrocarbons.
Through our climate transition action plan, we’re decarbonising our base business and developing revenue streams through carbon management services and eventually, clean fuels, in line with our disciplined operating model.
Our approach is to continue to generate free cash flow through our midstream infrastructure tolling business, build on our competitive advantages to decarbonise the base business and build new revenue streams, and produce clean fuels as the market matures. In doing so, we are able to incrementally invest in technologies and sustainably generate cash flow. And these technologies we’re investing in are the enablers for future clean fuels and decarbonisation solutions.
Santos has a unique portfolio of strategic midstream infrastructure assets. The midstream division of our business involves gas processing, storage, transport and liquefaction assets. Our infrastructure assets include:
Darwin LNG (DLNG)
Northern Territory, Australia
Located at Wickham Point, Santos is operator of Darwin LNG, a single train liquefaction and storage facility that started production in 2006.
At the time of construction, DLNG’s LNG storage tank was one of the world’s largest above ground storage tanks at any LNG facility. The facility currently receives feedstock via a 500 kilometre pipeline from the Bayu-Undan platform in the Timor Sea, with Santos working to develop a carbon capture and storage facility at Bayu-Undan in the future.
With the capacity to produce approx. 3.7 million tonnes of LNG per annum, the DLNG Life Extension Project seeks to utilise the shutdown window created by Bayu-Undan end of life to prepare the DLNG facility for backfill from the Barossa field, extending facility life for around 20 years.
Devil Creek
Western Australia, Australia
Located 45 kilometres southwest of Karratha in Western Australia, Devil Creek Gas Plant is one of WA’s major domestic gas hubs.
Commencing operations in 2011, the processing plant receives gas and condensate from the offshore, Santos-operated Reindeer field’s gas production platform.
Onshore facilities comprise a two-train gas plant with reliable capacity of 215Tj/d, a gas supply pipeline and a sales gas export pipeline. Raw natural gas is processed at the Devil Creek Gas Plant before being supplied to the WA domestic market through the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DBNGP).
Moomba
South Australia, Australia
The Moomba Plant is Santos’ central gathering and processing hub for oil and gas produced in the Cooper and Eromanga Basins.
Once processed, natural gas and ethane is transported through a pipeline to the east coast, supplying domestic gas and LNG export to Asia. Natural gas liquids are sent with stabilised crude oil and condensate through a 659-kilometre pipeline to Port Bonython.
Port Bonython
South Australia, Australia
Located approximately 16 kilometres northeast of Whyalla, Santos’ Port Bonython facility is comprised of a deep-water port, gas fractionation plant and a storage facility.
Following processing, Santos supplies LPG gas to the domestic market from Port Bonython, powering homes and businesses around the country.
High quality crude and naphtha products are supplied from Port Bonython into Asia through tankers for fuels and for manufacturing.
Santos’ 2.12MW solar farm at Port Bonython provides over six per cent of the plant’s electricity needs each year.
Varanus Island
Offshore Western Australia, Australia
In operation since 1986, the Varanus Island offshore site is located 75 kilometres offshore northwest Australia.
Approximately 30 hectares of the island’s reserve has been leased for the operation of the oil and gas receiving, processing, loading and export facilities and associated infrastructure known as the Varanus Island Hub.
Owned and operated by Santos, the hub has reliable capacity of 340Tj/d. Gas, condensate and oil from the offshore John Brookes, Harriet and Spar-Halyard fields is piped to the facility for processing, storage and export to market.
The sales gas is then transported to mainland WA via two 100 kilometre pipelines, where it is supplied to major mining and industrial customers.
At Santos, we aspire to be a leading carbon capture and storage (CCS) infrastructure provider and provider of clean fuels and carbon reduction services.
We have a three hub CCS strategy that incorporates our Moomba, Bayu-Undan and offshore Western Australia projects.
Technologies like CCS and direct air capture will decarbonise our own operations, with the potential to expand and store customer emissions.
Moomba Hub
South Australia, Australia
Santos’ Moomba hub is located in the northeast of South Australia and houses strategically important infrastructure for the transportation of natural gas and ethane around the east coast of Australia.
The Moomba CCS project took final investment decision in November 2021 and initially will store up to 1.7 million tonnes per annum. The project, which is planned to make the first injection in 2024, is designed to utilise existing processing capability at the Moomba Gas Plant and existing infrastructure associated with depleted reservoirs in the Cooper Basin. Santos expects it to be one of the lowest-cost CCS projects globally.
Longer term, Santos’ strategy will focus on low-emission fuels and CCS, which can be scaled-up across the Cooper Basin. The Cooper Basin has a natural competitive advantage in delivering low-emission fuels including existing infrastructure, access to produced water, natural gas and existing pipeline connections to domestic and export markets.
We are also trialling a range of direct air capture technologies in the Cooper Basin to build on the CCS technology.
Darwin and Bayu-Undan Hub
Offshore Northern Territory, Australia and offshore Timor-Leste
In early 2022, front end engineering and design (FEED) commenced for the Bayu-Undan CCS Project.
Santos is working with both the Australian and Timor-Leste Governments with a view to progressing the development of this project, with predicted storage capacity of around 10 million tonnes of CO2 per annum, equivalent to about 1.5 per cent of Australia’s carbon emissions each year.
The project has the potential to be the largest CCS project in the world and one of the many that will be critical to help the world meet its climate goals.
Santos’ Barossa project is one of several potential CO2 sources for Bayu-Undan CCS, but importantly this project offers a whole-of-region carbon solution.
Western Australia Hub
Western Australia, Australia
The Reindeer CCS project has the capacity to store five million tonnes of CO2e per annum. The project is a third-party project, looking to capture CO2 from customers in the area. The CO2 will be transported to the Devil Creek facility and then sent through our existing infrastructure to the Reindeer platform, where it will be stored in the depleted gas reservoir once production ceases.
Our ambitious net-zero energy goals are supported through the delivery of high-integrity carbon offsets.
Santos’ climate transition action plan has portfolio-wide implications. In transforming our business for a better tomorrow, our pathway to net-zero emissions is based on the hierarchy of:
1. Avoid: Transform our base energy business to supply critical fuels more sustainably.
2. Reduce: Implement energy efficiency and other low-emission technology to reduce the emissions footprint of our activities and products.
3. Offset: Invest in high-integrity carbon sequestration projects to offset any residual emissions and support our transition pathway to a net-zero business.
Santos is developing a portfolio of nature-based projects, generating carbon abatement to reduce our net emissions and supporting the transition toward our 2030 and 2040 emissions reduction targets.
High-quality nature-based carbon offsets will play an important role in the transition to a net-zero economy. These units can contribute meaningfully to the community by bringing economic, social, and environmental improvements, particularly in remote and regional areas in Australia and in developing countries in our region more broadly.
Reducing emissions and decarbonising our business is a priority. Technology transformation is non-linear and takes time. The strategic use of offsets will enable Santos to accelerate its transition and offset any residual emissions.
Our nature-based solutions approach
Nature-based solutions are not the primary means of achieving our net zero climate goal, but they will help us to offset any residual emissions and accelerate our glide path as technology evolves and requires time in implementation.
Our approach to nature-based solutions is to identify and develop projects that deliver the dual benefits of sequestering carbon and providing other sustainability benefits to the community. We will pursue high-quality projects consistent with Australian and international offset standards and will ensure all projects are certified as delivering the environmental (and other sustainability) outcomes as intended.
Integrity is core to our nature-based business. We are committed to the generation of credits that are real, measurable and verifiable.
Offsets from land-based or blue carbon projects will be included in our portfolio to offset our emissions and support the sale of low carbon and net-zero carbon products.
Supporting communities where we operate
We will prioritise nature-based projects in our existing areas of operation, making the most of our operating capabilities and supporting opportunities for local communities in those areas.
In Australia, Santos has access to approximately 50,000 hectares of land across our operations. We are identifying opportunities to enhance environmental and social outcomes through investment, on land and in the coastal regions in which we operate.
In Papua New Guinea, our Diwai project is a significant investment in reforestation, and we are actively working with indigenous communities to identify other opportunities, including reforestation, and avoided deforestation projects.
The Pikka project in Alaska is Santos’ first North American project and represents an important milestone in meeting our climate goals delivering net-zero operations from the delivery of the first product to market (Santos equity share). Santos is working with its experienced Alaskan Native Corporations partners to identify other local sustainable emissions offset projects.
