CONOCOPHILLIPS and Santos have awarded a major contract for a subsea production system contract for the Barossa gas field development to TechnipFMC Santos suggests this puts Barossa gas and condensate field ahead to be the leading candidate to backfill Darwin LNG.

The engineering procurement and construction contract "represents a commitment to long-lead items in advance of a final investment decision," Santos said.  

The contract includes the engineering, design and fabrication of wellheads, manifolds and control system as well as installation and commissioning assistance.  

"This is the first EPC contract to be awarded for Barossa and a big vote of confidence in its position as the leading project to backfill DLNG," Santos managing director and CEO Kevin Gallagher said.  

Gallagher said the joint venture is making good progress in the front-end engineering and design phase and is evaluating bids for the gas export pipeline.  

"We are also looking at technical proposals for the floating production storage and offloading facility from both MODEC and the Technip/Samsung Heavy Industries consortium." 

"An invitation to tender for the development drilling contract has also been released, further advancing the project to meet DLNG's backfill timetable."  

 "We continue to focus on strong cost discipline with all our selected contractors, developing the certainty of cost, schedule and execution planning required to compete in our global portfolio and support a final investment decision," ConocoPhillips Australia West president Chris Wilson said.  

Barossa would more than double Santos' northern Australian production should it go ahead. 

Source: Energy News Bulletin

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