Japan’s MODEC has confirmed the award of a contract by ConocoPhillips for the front end engineering design (FEED) of a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for Barossa project located offshore Australia.
ConocoPhillips is the operator of the Barossa joint venture with a 37.5% interest. Its partners are SK E&S Australia (37.5%) and Santos Offshore (25%).
The joint venture entered the FEED phase for the development of the Barossa gas field to backfill Darwin LNG (DLNG) in April 2018.
FEED activities involve engineering and commercial work aimed at finalization of the project’s technical detail, costs, LNG sales agreements and negotiation of access arrangements with the owners of DLNG and the Bayu-Undan to Darwin gas pipeline. A final investment decision (FID) is targeted towards the end of 2019, with first gas expected in 2023.
ConocoPhillips then in June awarded major engineering projects as part of the FEED phase of the Barossa offshore project to MODEC and a consortium between TechnipFMC and Samsung Heavy Industries, as part of a design competition. A third contract, for the subsea infrastructure including umbilicals, flowlines, risers, and gas export pipeline, was awarded to INTECSEA.
MODEC said on Tuesday that, under the contract, it will participate in the FEED on a competitive basis against a JV of two other contractors.
Barossa is an offshore gas and light condensate project that proposes to provide a new source of gas to the existing Darwin LNG facility. The offshore development concept includes subsea production system and gas export pipeline as well as the FPSO, located approximately 300 kilometers north of Darwin, Australia.