Australia's Santos Ltd <STO.AX> said on Thursday it will sell 25% of the Darwin LNG facility and the Bayu-Undan gas field off Northern Australia for $390 million, months after agreeing to buy ConocoPhillips' <COP.N> business in the region.
The sale depends on the completion of the $1.39 billion deal with ConocoPhillips, which Santos expects to follow with a final investment decision on developing the Barossa gas field.
Santos Chief Executive Officer Kevin Gallagher said the sale to Barossa partner SK E&S of South Korea is a big step towards bringing Barossa gas into production through the Darwin LNG facilities.
The Bayu-Undan gas field, which feeds Darwin LNG, is set to run dry in 2022 and Santos is aiming to develop the Barossa field to keep the plant open.
South Korea's SK E&S owns 37.5% of Barossa, Santos said.
Last October, ConocoPhillips, which has been focusing on its U.S. shale assets, said it would sell the Darwin LNG plant, which it opened in 2006, and gas fields off northern Australia to Santos.
(Reporting by Nikhil Kurian Nainan in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill and Devika Syamnath)
