GDF Suez-Santos venture lets contract for FLNG project

May 14, 2013
A joint venture of GDF Suez and Santos has let a contract to the Wood Group Kenny consortium for the pre-front-end-engineering and design of the subsea definition of its proposed Bonaparte floating LNG project in the Timor Sea.

A joint venture of GDF Suez and Santos has let a contract to the Wood Group Kenny consortium for the pre-front-end-engineering and design of the subsea definition of its proposed Bonaparte floating LNG project in the Timor Sea.

The project involves development of the Petrel, Tern, and Frigate dry-gas fields that straddle the offshore boundary of Western Australian and Northern Territory waters some 250 km west of Darwin.

Operator GDF Suez plans to produce the fields from a total of 22 wells connected to a centrally located FLNG vessel capable of producing 2 million tonnes/year of LNG.

The fields, discovered by ARCO during the late 1960s-early 1970s have been regarded as stranded gas since that time and it is only now with the advent of FLNG technology that a viable development can be considered.

The development proposal was given the government environmental green light last October. The pre-FEED work is in line with the schedule to move to FEED at midyear. A final investment decision is expected in 2014.

Drilling will follow in 2016-17, with first production expected in 2018.

Wood Group Kenny will manage the pre-FEED work from its office in Perth. The company already has extensive experience with offshore projects in northwest Western Australia, including Prelude, Equus, Pluto, Ichthys, and Browse.

GDF Suez has 60% interest in the project; Santos holds the remainder.