Santos set for GLNG pipeline sale in 2016

Speaking after the Macquarie Australia conference, Mr Knox confirmed the company is looking to monetise the pipeline and is conducting negotiations with potential investors.

“We see an opportunity to monetise the GLNG pipeline and that is clearly on the table,” Mr Knox said.

“We are in discussion with our partners and potential buyers for that matter, but it’s a long process.”

The company has previously appointed Goldman Sachs to arrange the sale of the pipeline.

Analysts at Citi have suggested Santos is poised to earn up to $A2 billion in asset sales on the back of infrastructure divestments by the company, with another likely sale being the offloading of up to 30 per cent of its 80 per cent interest in the Narrabri Gas Project.

Additional assets flagged by Citi that could be on-sold, and then leased back, include the Port Bonython liquids terminal and the 659 km Moomba to Port Bonython Liquids Pipeline in South Australia.

GLNG on track and within budget

Meanwhile, the GLNG Project is nearly 95 per cent complete, with first LNG expected around the end of the third quarter of the 2015 calendar year.

All upstream compression hubs for the project are operational and producing above nameplate capacity, with the 420 km gas export pipeline delivering gas to the LNG plant on Curtis Island.

The first two of six gas turbine generators have also been fired up.

The $A23 billion project is a joint venture between Santos (30 per cent) and PETRONAS (27.5 per cent), Total (27.5 per cent) and KOGAS (15 per cent).

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