Modec has bagged a front end engineering design (FEED) contract of a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for the Barossa Offshore Project in Australia from ConocoPhillips Australia.
Image: The Barossa Offshore Project will be a new source of gas for the Darwin LNG facility. Photo: courtesy of ConocoPhillips Company.
The Barossa Offshore Project, located around 300km north of Darwin, Northern Territory, is a gas and light condensate field development, intended to become a new source of gas to the existing Darwin LNG (DLNG) facility.
The contract was given to the MODEC International, a subsidiary of the Japan-based Modec, under which it will take part in the FEED on a competitive basis against a joint venture made up of two other contractors – TechnipFMC and Samsung Heavy Industries.
The FPSO will be part of the offshore development concept that also includes subsea production system and gas export pipeline.
Modec, in a statement, said: “MODEC has an excellent track record of Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) projects of delivering five (5) FPSOs in Australia, five (5) of which MODEC operated for a total of 42 years.”
Earlier, ConocoPhillips had given the FEED contract for the subsea infrastructure and gas export pipeline to Intecsea. The subsea infrastructure of the Barossa project includes umbilicals, flowlines and risers.
According to ConocoPhillips, the development of the Barossa gas field will ensure continued operation of the DLNG facility for an additional 20 years.
The field is anticipated to help in addressing the future worldwide demand for natural gas while contributing significant income, employment and other benefits to Australia, said the oil and gas firm.
Currently, the DLNG facility is fed by offshore gas supply from Bayu-Undan, which is estimated to come to an end in the early 2020s.
ConocoPhillips represented by ConocoPhillips Australia Barossa is the operator of the Barossa Offshore Project with a stake of 37.5%. Its partners in the offshore gas and light condensate project are SK E&S Australia with a stake of 37.5% and Santos Offshore with a stake of 25%.
The final investment decision for the Barossa Offshore Project is expected to be made by ConocoPhillips and its partners in late 2019.