Offshore staff
ADELAIDE, Australia – Santos has awarded BW Offshore (BWO) the FPSO services contract for the $4.6-billion Barossa gas/condensate project offshore northern Australia.
The Barossa field, 300 km (186 mi) from Darwin in the Timor Sea, will be developed via a large FPSO that will be built in South Korea and Singapore, with capacity to process up to 800 MMcf/d of gas and 11,000 b/d of stabilized condensate.
It will be turret-moored with the newbuild hull based on BWO’s RapidFramework design, previously applied to for Premier Oil’s Catcher FPSO in the UK central North Sea.
This concept is said to allow for concurrent hull construction and topsides integration by removing interdependencies during construction phase. For Barossa, the anticipated topsides weight is around 35,000 tons.
The FPSO, due to start operations in the first half of 2025, will be connected to six subsea production wells, with in-field facilities and a gas export pipeline tied into the Bayu-Undan to Darwin pipeline system that supplies gas to the Darwin LNG plant.
Condensate will be stored on the FPSO for periodic offloading.
BWO will be responsible for engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and operation of the FPSO. Ratification of the contract remains subject to a final investment decision by Santos and its partners (expected in the next few weeks).
Santos managing director and CEO Kevin Gallagher said extensive review processes had led to significant financial savings and energy efficiency improvements that have reduced the project’s carbon footprint.
“This reduction in capital expenditure makes Barossa one of the lowest cost of supply projects in the world for LNG and will provide new supply into a tightening LNG market.”
Barossa will provide the next source of gas for the Santos-operated Darwin LNG plant, 6 km (3.7 mi) from the city of Darwin, following depletion of the offshore Bayu-Undan field.
Santos has a 62.5% operated interest in the Barossa joint venture along with partner SK E&S (37.5%).
It is negotiating to sell a 12.5% stake in Barossa to Darwin LNG partner JERA and has a binding agreement to sell 25% interests in Bayu-Undan and Darwin LNG to SK E&S, subject to the Barossa FID.
03/24/2021
