Speaking to investors yesterday, Santos vice president of gas marketing and commercialisation Rick Wilkinson said the joint venture, which also includes Origin Energy, planned to achieve this by commissioning an additional compressor site and constructing a 130km pipeline to connect the field to the Wallumbilla gas hub.

The company is also drilling and connecting a further 24 wells and is also planning a further compression upgrade.

Since Santos acquired a 75% interest in Fairview last year, CSM production at the field has already risen 67%. Currently the field has 65 wells producing about 46TJpd.

By the end of this year, Santos estimates the project, which started producing in 1994, will have about 90 producing wells, giving a 70TJpd capacity.

By the end of 2011, gross production is forecast to be about 200TJpd, with Santos’ share about 140TJpd. To reach that level, Santos will need to spend about $A340 million and drill 280 wells.

To date, Fairview has produced about 60 billion cubic feet of gas.