SEOUL, January 27 (AJP) - South Korea's SK Innovation E&S said on Tuesday it has begun full-scale natural gas production at Australia’s Barossa gas field and successfully loaded its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo.
The company said gas produced at the offshore Barossa field was transported to the Darwin LNG terminal, where the inaugural LNG shipment was loaded.
Barossa is located about 300 kilometers off Australia’s northwest coast. SK Innovation E&S holds a 37.5 percent stake in the project and is a key partner alongside Australia’s Santos, which owns 50 perent, and Japan’s JERA, with 12.5 percent.
SK Innovation E&S invested a total of $1.6 billion, or about 2 trillion won, covering reserves assessment, regulatory approvals and construction of offshore and onshore facilities.
With production under way, the company said it expects to secure 1.3 million tons of LNG annually for the next 20 years, equivalent to roughly 3 percent of South Korea’s total annual LNG imports. The supply is expected to bolster South Korea’s energy security amid heightened volatility in global energy markets driven by geopolitical risks, including international disputes.
The Barossa project adopted a brownfield development strategy by retrofitting and reusing the existing Darwin LNG terminal instead of constructing a new facility, the company said, helping to reduce capital costs. It also cited price competitiveness due to Australia’s proximity, with shipping times of about 10 days compared with longer routes from the Middle East or the United States.
Lee Jong Soo, president of SK Innovation E&S, said the start of LNG production at Barossa followed decades of sustained effort by a private company in the high-risk resource development sector.
* This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP.
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