Eni and Santos sign cooperation MoU for northern Australia and Timor-Leste

Eni and Santos have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) under which they plan to identify potential new areas of collaboration in developing offshore fields in northern Australia as well as carbon capture, storage and utilisation (CCUS) facilities in the Darwin area.

The companies plan to optimise synergies and share infrastructure between the Barossa project and the Evans Shoal development, including the potential expansion of the Darwin LNG plant and options to repurpose and extend the life of the Bayu-Undan gas and condensate field. They are also to assess the joint development of CCUS facilities, serving not only assets owned by the two companies but open to any interested third-party project in the Darwin area, with the long-term objective of creating a CO₂ management hub in the Northern Territory. The MoU may also lead to collaboration in new upstream development opportunities in relation to other offshore stranded resources located in northern Australia.

The collaboration with Santos is an important step in the pathway to decarbonising Eni’s upstream activity in Australia, leveraging both companies’ expertise with the aim of reducing CO₂ emissions. Eni recently launched a new strategy under which the company plans to be carbon neutral by 2050 in all its operations, processes and products. In the long term, gas – which will be increasingly decarbonised – will represent more than 90% of Eni’s production.