Australian energy giant Santos is on track to produce first gas from its project in Commonwealth waters next year, as a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel currently under construction is scheduled to head to its massive field offshore Australia in the first quarter of 2025.
While BW Offshore was awarded a contract in March 2021 for the construction, connection and operation of an FPSO for the Barossa Fieldwhich is located 300 kilometres off the coast of Darwin, the final investment decision (FID) for the project was made a few days after the award, resulting in an investment of 600 million dollars in the Darwin LNG Life extension and pipeline connection projects. Dyna-Mac was then commissioned by BW Offshore to build the deck modules.
The Australian development project includes an FPSO unit, subsea production wells, supporting subsea infrastructure and a gas export pipeline connected to the existing Bayu-Undan to Darwin LNG pipeline to extend the life of the facility by approximately 20 years. The Barossa project is a joint venture between Santos (50%), SK E&S (32.5%) and JERA (12.5%).
BW Offshore announced in September 2021 a $1.15 billion project loan financing for the construction and operation of the facility known as FPSO BW Opalwhich will take over natural gas production in the Barossa field, thanks to the $4.6 billion FPSO contract for 15 years with additional extension options of ten years. The first ship tower module was integrated into the hull on February 4, 2024.
According to Santos, the FPSO is on track to sail to Australia in the first quarter of 2025 as it is currently 86% complete and all 16 modules have been loaded and installed on the hull in Singapore. The vessel has been taken to the commissioning yard and work is now underway. The Barossa Gas Project is approaching the 80% completion mark and first gas is expected to be delivered in the third quarter of 2025.
The FPSO BW Opal is a large vessel with a processing capacity of up to 900 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of gas and a design capacity of 11,000 barrels per day of stabilized condensate. The Gas Export Pipeline (GEP) that will deliver gas from the field to Darwin LNG is complete. In addition, construction work is underway to double the Darwin pipeline.
In addition, drilling and underground operations are approximately 45% complete. The first well has been drilled and completed, and clean-up operations have been completed, so completion is underway with CO2 levels at the lower end of the expected range.
The second well was also drilled and suspended above the reservoir to allow simultaneous subsea umbilicals, risers and production (SURF) lines. After the third well was also drilled and completed, clean-out flushing was carried out. Santos claims that the reservoir quality is excellent, consistent with the forecasts with pre-drill expectations, and the well test indicates production capability.
The SURF program is 75% complete and the FPSO buoy was installed in June 2024. The Australian player states that all six subsea flowlines have been installed in the field and testing activities are underway. The Barossa project contains estimated P50 reserves of 5.1 Tscf of gas and 50 MMstb of condensate.
Kevin GallagherManaging Director and Chief Executive Officer of Santos, highlighted: “We are excited about our progress and the prospects at Barossa. Initial results from the third well demonstrate excellent reservoir quality and thickness. At full production rate, Barossa is expected to contribute around 1.8 million tonnes per year to Santos’ growing LNG portfolio.”
