First gas flowed to the BW Opal floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel serving the Santos-operated Barossa LNG project offshore Australia.
Santos announced 21 September that the FPSO had begun operations. The FPSO is chartered under a $4.6-billion contract with BW Offshore, which said first gas had been achieved on 20 September.
Gas from the Barossa project, which was sanctioned in 2021, will be sent to the Santos-operated Darwin LNG facility to extend the plant’s lifespan by about 2 decades. The Northern Territory Environment Protection Authority recently renewed the Environment Protection License for Darwin LNG for 5 years through September 2030, paving the way for Barossa to send gas to the Darwin LNG plant.
Santos said the six wells drilled at Barossa found excellent quality reservoirs. Testing has wrapped up on five wells, with flow capacity exceeding pre-drill estimates. The expected average output per well is 300 MMcf/D, Santos said.
Gas and condensate are gathered from subsea wells and brought to the FPSO facility via subsea infrastructure. Initial processing at the FPSO separates the natural gas, water, and condensate extracted from the Barossa field. The BW Opal, moored about 285 km offshore from Darwin, can handle 850 MMcf/D of gas and 11,000 B/D of condensate. The dry natural gas will be transported through a gas pipeline for onshore processing at the Darwin LNG facility, and condensate will be transferred from the FPSO for export by tanker.
The BW Opal left Seatrium’s Tuas Boulevard Yard in Singapore in May. It has more than 230 MW of installed power. Its hull is 64×358 m. Seatrium has said the BW Opal is one of the largest FPSOs delivered to Australia.
BW said the FPSO becoming ready for startup triggered the charter’s 60% of contractual dayrate terms. Following the interim performance test, the payable dayrate increases to 85%, and after practical completion, which concludes the vessel’s delivery phase, the full dayrate terms will be in place. The practical conclusion marks the start of the 15-year charter of the FPSO.
Santos operates the Barossa project on behalf of partners PRISM Energy Australia, which was formerly SK E&S, and JERA Australia.
Earlier this month, a consortium led by ADNOC’s XRG withdrew its $18.7 billion offer to purchase Santos.
