Swiss set up firm with Timor-Leste govt to develop 250-kilometer natural gas pipeline

Switzerland-based StreamTec Solutions has signed a cooperation agreement with Timor-Leste’s national oil & gas company Timor Gás & Petróleo, E.P. (TIMOR GAP) and the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MPRM) to establish a company that will develop an underwater pipeline highway for the transport of natural gas.

The public-private partnership company named STREAMTEC Timor-Leste Pipeline, CO. (STS TL) will be 70% owned by TIMOR GAP, E.P. and 30% by StreamTec Solutions, and will be responsible for promoting, operating, and maintaining the pipeline highway that will transport natural gas from the Bayu Undan and nearby fields in the Timor Sea to Natarbora.

The ultra-deepwater pipeline will be approximately 250 kilometers long. The pipeline design phase is anticipated to be completed in one to two years, with a joint study to be carried out with active involvement of Timorese to support local capacity-building in future operations and maintenance.

Timor-Leste’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Francisco da Costa Monteiro, said that the declining production at the Bayu Undan field and ongoing consideration to close the commercial route (pipeline) to Australia brought the need to develop a domestic pipeline solution that supports continued use of remaining reserves, aligning with the potential development of the Chuditch and other nearby gas fields.

StreamTec was previously involved in gas pipeline feasibility studies for MPRM on the Greater Sunrise project.