Santos, Beach Sign Ethane Supply Contract

Cooper Basin joint venture partners Santos and Beach Energy have agreed to extend the ethane gas supply contract with Qenos, an Australian manufacturer of polyethylene and supplier of polymers, Santos said January 30 in a statement.

The sales agreement runs from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2025, and is expected to supply up to 15 petajoules/year of ethane, Santos said. The ethane required by Qenos is processed via a dedicated facility at the Moomba gas plant, operated by Santos on behalf of the joint venture in northeastern South Australia.

"Santos is continuing to invest in new natural gas supply for the domestic market around the nation, including in the Cooper Basin where we increased production last year for the second year in a row and drilled a record 115 wells. Here in NSW, we want to bring the Narrabri Gas Project to fruition," Santos Managing CEO Kevin Gallagher said.

Gallagher said that Narrabri gas project would be developed solely for the east coast domestic market and could produce enough gas to supply up to half NSW needs and so it's vital that the assessment and approval process is completed as soon as possible.

"As a proud Australian company, we are a key supplier of natural gas to the domestic market and the Qenos contract again highlights our commitment to local customers," Beach Energy managing director Matt Kay said.