Dorado Oil Project Eyes FID in Late 2027 After 2027 Appraisal Drilling

Carnarvon Energy Ltd said a final investment decision on the Dorado oil project could come in late 2027. The company's chief executive Philip Huizenga told Bloomberg on Friday that the project has returned to the top of Santos' priorities. Huizenga said Dorado is an oil project at a time when Australia needs greater energy security.

Santos operates the project and holds an 80 percent stake, while Carnarvon owns 10 percent and Taiwan's CPC holds the remaining 10 percent. The Dorado discovery was made in 2018 in the Bedout Basin offshore Western Australia. It is estimated to contain gross 2C contingent resources of 344 million barrels of oil equivalent and is Australia's largest undeveloped oil project.

Santos described Dorado as a high-return, short payback-cycle project with the potential to increase energy security. The company said last week that three appraisal wells will be drilled in the northern part of the Bedout Basin in 2027 to test integrated oil and gas prospects.

An initial development phase would produce oil and condensate through a floating production, storage and offloading vessel.

A second phase would involve gas production to supply Santos' domestic infrastructure in Western Australia. Australia relies on imports for most of its transportation fuel. The country has closed five of its seven refineries since 2013.

A recent fire at one of the two remaining refineries, combined with supply disruptions linked to the Iran war, prompted the government to halve fuel excise taxes for three months and secure emergency shipments from Brunei, South Korea and China.