Santos, Conoco award FEED contracts for Barossa project, offshore Australia

ADELAIDE -- Santos announced further progress on the front end engineering and design (FEED) phase of the Barossa offshore project with the award of three major engineering contracts.

The Barossa development concept includes an FPSO, six subsea production wells to be drilled in the initial phase, subsea production system, supporting in-field subsea infrastructure and a gas pipeline to Darwin, all located in Australian Commonwealth waters.

Separate engineering contracts for the FPSO have been awarded to MODEC and a consortium between TechnipFMC and Samsung Heavy Industries. A design competition will be conducted between the two groups.

A third contract, for the subsea infrastructure, including umbilicals, flowlines, risers and gas export pipeline, has been awarded to INTECSEA.

Santos Managing Director and CEO Kevin Gallagher said, “An FPSO design competition between leading engineering contractors with experience in the Australian market will ensure a robust, cost competitive package is delivered ahead of a final investment decision.”

“Other FEED works are also moving ahead with geotechnical and geophysical surveys of the pipeline route and subsea manifold locations currently underway in the field,” Gallagher said.

Barossa gas field, 300 km north of Darwin, sits within Santos’ Northern Australia portfolio, one of the company’s core long-life, natural gas assets. A final investment decision is targeted towards the end of 2019.

Santos holds a 25% interest in the Barossa-Caldita joint venture along with partners ConocoPhillips (37.5% and operator) and SK E&S (37.5%). Santos is also a joint venture partner in Darwin LNG with an 11.5% interest.