Barossa Development Proposal Approved

March 29, 2018

Barossa Development- first new standalone offshore project proposal in Australia since 2013

Barossa development is a gas and condensate field located in the Timor Sea offshore Australia, in the Bonaparte basin. The Barossa field was first discovered in 2006 with the drilling of the Barossa-1 exploration well. From two drill stem tests conducted on the well, one test flowed at a rate of 30.1 cubic feet per day, and the second test flowed at 0.8 million cubic feet per day.

In total, the Barossa field has been appraised by five wells in total. The first three, Barossa-2, 3 and 4 were all completed in 2015 as part of a three well appraisal programme. In 2017 the second appraisal programme, consisting of Barossa-5 and 6, was completed.

The Barossa field is to be developed alongside the nearby Caldita Field which was discovered in 2005 and appraised in 2007.
Barossa development is a joint venture between ConocoPhillips Australia (37.5%), SK E&S Australia (37.5%) and Santos Offshore (25%), but ConocoPhillips are serving as the operator.

Having submitted its proposal for Barossa to The National Offshore Safety & Environmental Management Authority (Nopsema) ConocoPhillips received notice of the approval on the 13th of March.

However, the approval does not allow any work to commence as ConocoPhillips and its partners are required to obtain additional approvals. They are now working on an environmental plan for the proposed development.

To develop the field, ConocoPhillips are proposing the use of a FPSO vessel, subsea infrastructure, subsea production systems and a subsea gas export pipeline. From the FPSO gas and condensate will be separated and the condensate will be transported from the vessel via offtake tankers. The gas will be transported via pipelines to the existing Bayu-Undan to the Darwin gas pipeline which feeds the onshore Darwin LNG facility. Barossa are currently the only gas source on track to take over delivery of gas to Darwin LNG when production from Bayu-Undan, which currently feeds the plant, ends in early 2020s.

The Barossa project is expecting to achieve first gas in 2023, with an estimated annual production rate of 3.7 million tons of LNG and 1.5 million barrels of gas. It is expected that the project will have a life cycle of 20-25 years.

With first gas expected in 2023 and FEED stage expected to begin in the next few months, contractors are lining up to bid for the Barossa subsea contracts. It is not yet sure which major contracts will be invited to bid, but it is believed Genesis Oil & Gas preformed the work-scope for the pre-FEED stage.