ConocoPhillips-led group gets development approval for Barossa field

A group led by ConocoPhillips has received regulatory approval from Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) for its proposal to develop the Barossa gas-condensate field in retention lease NT/RL5 in the eastern Timor Sea 300 km north of Darwin.

NOPSEMA has given a nod to the development concept, which includes a permanently moored floating production, storage, and offtake facility, a subsea production system and supporting infrastructure, plus a subsea gas export pipeline.

Condensate will be separated from the gas stream and exported directly from the FPSO into offtake tankers. The dry gas will be piped to shore for processing.

As yet there are no commercial arrangements in place for reception of the gas, but the proposal is to connect the Barossa gas line to the existing Bayu-Undan field gas pipeline that supplies the Darwin LNG plant at Wickham Point. The LNG plant is also operated by ConocoPhillips.

This would enable Barossa gas to backfill and then take over the feed to Wickham Point when the Bayu-Undan field is depleted in the early 2020s.

Expected output from Barossa is 3.7 million tonnes/year of LNG and 1.5 million bbl/year of condensate.

A pipeline corridor has been identified for the planning stages of the Barossa project to enable flexibility for placement pending ongoing engineering and environmental considerations. There also is provision for adding smaller Caldita field to the development.

NOPSEMA’s approval allows the ConocoPhillips group to move forward and begin work on an environment submission for the Barossa project.

The group is targeting a final investment decision in 2019 leading to an on-stream date of 2023 and a project life of 25 years.

Barossa field, discovered in November 2006, lies in 320 m of water. Appraisal wells at the field have recorded up to 16% carbon dioxide content that will need to be dealt with in the gas processing stage.

Caldita, 20 km southwest in 150 m of water, was found in September 2005.

ConocoPhillips has 37.5% of the project and is operator. South Korean combine SK E&S also has 37.5%, while Adelaide-based Santos Ltd. holds the remaining 25%.