Eni takes operatorship of Evans Shoal gas field from Shell

Italian oil company Eni has acquired the whole 32.5% interest from Shell in the Evans Shoal gas field, and has become the operator of the Retention Lease NT/RL7 located in the north Bonaparte Basin, offshore Northern Australia.

The field is located around 300km northwest of Darwin, where the Darwin LNG plant is operating. Eni said on Thursday that it estimates the resource base of the field to be at least 8 Tcf of raw gas in place.

The transaction has been approved by the Joint Venture and the Australian Government has granted all the required approvals. The new NT/RL7 Joint Venture sees Eni Australia 65% (operator), Petronas Carigali 25%, and Osaka Gas Australia 10%.

This transaction represents a further step forward in Eni’s growth plans in the Australasian region, following the startup in May 2017 of the Jangkrik gas field offshore Kalimantan, Indonesia, which supplies gas to the Bontang LNG plant.

In Australia, Eni is the operator and 100% owner of the Blacktip Gas Project. In addition, Eni has a non-operated interest in the Bayu-Undan gas and condensate field and in the associated Darwin LNG plant. Eni has interests in 14 offshore exploration and production licenses in Australia, Timor-Leste and JPDA waters, 13 of which are Eni-operated.

Eni has also recently increased its position in the Moroccan offshore area. Namely, Eni signed a petroleum agreement with the Moroccan State Company ONHYM to enter into the Tarfaya Offshore Shallow exploration permits I-XII, located in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean offshore the cities of Sidi Ifni, Tan Tan and Tarfaya.