MODEC bags EPCI contract for Barossa Offshore Project FPSO

Barossa Offshore Project FPSO : MODEC International has bagged an engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contract from ConocoPhillips Australia to deliver the Barossa FPSO – a floating production, storage, and offloading vessel to be deployed for the Barossa Offshore Project.

The Japanese offshore floating platforms supplier had previously executed the front end engineering design (FEED) for the Barossa Offshore Project FPSO.

Located in the Northern Territory, Australia, the Barossa Offshore Project is expected to become a new source of natural gas for the Darwin LNG plant after the production of gas from the Bayu-Undan field ceases. The offshore gas project is being executed about 300km north of Darwin with an investment of around AUD 500 million.

The Barossa FPSO will be a newly built vessel, which will be permanently moored at the Barossa field gas and light condensate field by an internal turret mooring system to be delivered by SOFEC, a MODEC group company. The FPSO is slated for delivery during 2023.

Photo of the Barossa Offshore Project FPSO

Barossa Offshore Project FPSO rendering. Image courtesy of ConocoPhillips Company.

Commenting on the Barossa FPSO contract, Yuji Kozai – President and CEO of MODEC, said: “We are extremely honored and proud to have been selected to provide the Gas FPSO for Barossa project.

“This contract award of a Gas FPSO reinforces one of our important business strategies, which we aim to penetrate into gas-related market. Also this new contract represents a significant milestone for MODEC in applying our next generation new built FPSO hull design of which we have developed to meet the new market demands for larger FPSOs.

“We are equally pleased to be a part of the team that will provide natural gas, a major clean energy source, for the benefit of the people and environment.”

The FPSO for the Barossa Offshore Project will be designed to process more than over 600 million standard cubic feet per day of dry lean gas that will be exported through the Barossa gas export pipeline to the Darwin LNG plant at Wickham Point. Up to 650,000 barrels of condensate produced from the Barossa field will be stored by the Barossa Offshore Project FPSO and will be periodically offloaded to tankers.

The length of the Barossa FPSO will be around 354 meters, while its width will be 64 meters. The topsides of the Barossa Offshore Project FPSO will have a weight of nearly 34,400 tonnes, and will be capable of housing a maximum of 140 personnel on board.

The FPSO for the Barossa Offshore Project will be equipped with a boiler and steam turbine-based power generation system instead of conventional gas turbines, in order to lower the carbon dioxide emissions from the vessel.

Chris Wilson – ConocoPhillips Australia-West president, commenting on the Barossa FPSO contract, said: “This is the largest and most significant contract to be awarded for the Barossa Project and a significant milestone in moving closer to a final investment decision in early 2020. It is a testament to the hard work by our project team and major contractors following the successful completion of the Front-End Engineering and Design effort.

“Final investment decision is progressing according to plan while we continue working collaboratively with Santos to finalise transitional arrangements and close the sale of our Australia-West assets.”

ConocoPhillips Australia Barossa with 37.5% stake is the operator of the Barossa Offshore Project and is partnered by SK E&S Australia (37.5%) and Santos Offshore (25.0%).

Recently, ConocoPhillips signed an EPCI contract for the 260km long Barossa gas export pipeline to Allseas Marine Contractors Australia, a subsidiary of Swiss offshore contractor Allseas Group.