Barossa gas field enters FEED development program

April 23, 2018
A ConocoPhillips-led group developing Barossa gas field, in the eastern Timor Sea about 300 km north of Darwin, has reached an agreement to begin the front-end engineering and design stage of development with the initial aim of backfilling the Darwin LNG project.

A ConocoPhillips-led group developing Barossa gas field, in the eastern Timor Sea about 300 km north of Darwin, has reached an agreement to begin the front-end engineering and design stage of development with the initial aim of backfilling the Darwin LNG project.

Development of Barossa will extend the operating life of Darwin LNG, which currently is being supplied by Bayu-Undan field—also operated by ConocoPhillips—in the central Timor Sea. The life of this field is expected to end in the early 2020s (OGJ Online, Mar. 21, 2018).

FEED activities will include engineering and commercial work to finalize the project’s technical detail, costs, LNG sales arrangements, and negotiation of access agreements with the Darwin LNG and Bayu-Undan pipeline partners.

A final investment decision is being scheduled for the end of 2019. Contracts for field surveys and engineering work for the floating production, storage, and offloading vessel, along with subsea facilities and export pipeline, will be awarded shortly.

The development concept comprises an FPSO, six subsea production wells in the initial phase along with supporting subsea infrastructure, and a gas export pipeline to hook into the Bau-Undan to Darwin line. All facilities will be in Australian waters.

There are two retention leases over the project area. NT/RL5 covers Barossa field while NT/RL6 to the south encompasses smaller Caldita field to be developed as a potential future phase of the project.

ConocoPhillips has 37.5% of the Barossa project and operatorship. SK E&S has 37.5% and Santos Ltd. has 25%.