Helium drilling set to start after WA taxpayers shielded from cleanup costs
UK-listed Georgina Energy plans to drill in the remote Little Great Sandy Desert in search of helium, hydrogen and natural gas.
ConocoPhilips developed the Bayu Undan project to send gas from the waters of Timor Leste (East Timor) to an LNG plant in Darwin. Santos bought out ConocoPhillips in 2020 and became the operator. Production ceased in 2025.
Whether the facility can be used for carbon storage or has to be decommissioned has billion-dollar implications for Santos and its partners.
Australian LNG producers are under pressure on emissions and decommissioning, and Santos wants to tackle both problems in one swoop at Bayu Undan, but it needs everyone to play along.
Santos and ENI are looking for solutions for CO2 and removing old facilities in the waters north of Darwin. Time will tell if the problems are solved or just delayed.
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