Signed contract for Barossa FPSO
BW Offshore has signed a contract with Santos Ltd. for the supply of a FPSO for the Barossa gas field, with initial production expected to commence during the first half of 2025.
The Barossa FPSO represents a new type of infrastructure-like contract for BW Offshore with attractive long-term returns, supported by strong partnerships with equity co-investors and banks.
Marco Beenen, CEO of BW Offshore
The Barossa gas field is located 300 kilometres offshore Darwin in northern Australia. Barossa will be developed via a FPSO with six subsea production wells, in-field facilities and a gas export pipeline tied into the Bayu-Undan to Darwin pipeline system that supplies gas to Darwin LNG. The Darwin LNG plant is located 6 kilometers from Darwin at Wickham Point and commenced production in 2006.
Securing a long-term contract
The Lease and Operate contract has a firm period of 15 years, with 10 years of options. The firm period contract value is USD 4.6 billion. BW Offshore will be responsible for engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and operation of the FPSO. The Final Investment Decision (FID) was confirmed by Santos and its partners on 30 March 2021 (updated 30 March 2021).
The project capex of around USD 2 billion will be financed by banks and equity partners, in combination with BW Offshore, as well as approximately USD 1 billion in total advance lease payments during the construction period.
Initial gas production from the FPSO is expected during the first half of 2025.
“This award confirms our ability to leverage extensive operational and development capabilities to win and execute offshore energy transition related projects. The Barossa FPSO represents a new type of infrastructure-like contract for BW Offshore with attractive long-term returns, supported by strong partnerships with equity co-investors and banks,” says Marco Beenen, CEO of BW Offshore.
Building a unit based on the RapidFramework® design
The unit for the Barossa gas field will be a large FPSO with processing capacity for up to 800 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of gas and design capacity of 11,000 barrels per day of stabilised condensate. The FPSO will be turret moored with a newbuilt hull based on BW Offshore’s RapidFramework® design.
The innovative Rapid Framework® concept is based on experience from the development of the Catcher FPSO in 2017, allowing for concurrent hull construction and topside integration by removing interdependencies during construction phase. The robust design can accommodate the most advanced topsides. For Barossa, the topside weight is expected to be approximately 35,000 tons.
The Barossa FPSO will be built in South Korea and Singapore before being towed and permanently moored at the field where it will produce and process natural gas for export via pipeline to Darwin LNG. Condensate will be stored on the FPSO for periodic offloading.
“Our skilled project execution organisation, experience from the Catcher project and working with well-known suppliers and yards, positions us to efficiently design, construct and deliver the newbuild FPSO for Barossa using the BW Offshore RapidFramework® design,” says Mr. Beenen.