KUALA LUMPUR (April 14): Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and SapuraOMV are said to be among the potential buyers of a non-operated equity stake in the Dorado oil project and Bedout exploration portfolio offshore western Australia, Energy Voice reported.

According to the portal, Santos, which owns 80% share of Dorado, plans to sell a 20% to 30% stake in the Dorado oil project, which is estimated by Rystad Energy to be worth up to US$200 million.

The portal described Dorado as a shallow water oil and gas development with around 150 million barrels of contingent resources in the Bedout basin offshore of northwest Western Australia, which is expected to cost US$2 billion to develop.

“The offer comes with high-graded exploration prospects, Apus and Pavo, which Santos plans to drill in late 2021/22 and other significant exploration potential. The Bedout basin holds prospective resources of 990 million barrels of oil equivalent, about half of which is estimated to be oil,” reported Energy Voice.

Santos said the development is expected to enter its front-end engineering and design phase this quarter, while a final investment decision in Dorado, in which Carnarvon Petroleum holds a 20% stake, is expected in the first six months of next year.

“I think there will be global interest amongst players looking for Dorado as a significant, non-operated, oil development with a proven operator in a low-risk jurisdiction,” Simon Molyneux, managing director at Perth-based upstream consultancy Molyneux Advisors, told the portal.

Molyneux added that potential buyers include international oil companies, as well as the likes of SapuraOMV, Neptune, Repsol, Cairn, Harbour, Wintershall, Medco or Asian national oil companies Petronas, Pertamina and PTT Exploration & Production.