Major Milestone for the Barossa Project
On 28 October 2023 at 11:30 local time, the newbuild hull for the BW Opal FPSO, which is based on BW Offshore’s RapidFramework® concept, started tow from the SK Oceanplant (SKOP) yard in South Korea, to the integration shipyard in Singapore, where it is expected to arrive later this month.
The BW Opal hull is one of the largest FPSO hulls ever built, with an overall length of 358 metres, a width of 64 metres. The hull has been built over the last 22 months, from first steel cut which was done on 24 November 2021. The hull is built in 6 giga blocks which have been joined in the floating dock. The hull was launched in June 2023 and subsequently, living quarters, engine casing and topsides process pipe racks have been installed. In addition to steel, 670 kilometers of cable has been pulled and around 30,000 pipe spools have been installed to complete construction, mechanical completion and pre-commissioning activities.
Upon arrival in Seatrium yard in Singapore, fully completed process modules, E-house and Turret modules will be lifted on to the hull to start integration activities. After completion of integration and commissioning, the fully commissioned BW Opal FPSO will start its voyage to Australia to commence production in the first half of 2025.
The sail away from the Korean construction yard marks an important milestone in the project, made possible by the excellent collaboration and openness between SKOP, Santos and BW Offshore. We have dedicated and hard-working teams spanning different functions and companies, working closely together. Delivering a complex hull like the BW Opal within 22 months is a great achievement. This milestone is a testament to BW Offshore’s ability to deliver complex projects in challenging times with high quality, compliance and on schedule.
Marco Beenen, CEO of BW Offshore
About Barossa
The Final Investment Decision (FID) for the FPSO for the Barossa project was confirmed by Santos and its partners on 30 March 2021, with a services contract including Operation & Maintenance (O&M) with a firm period of 15 years, and 10 years of options. The Barossa gas field is located 300 kilometres offshore Darwin in northern Australia, and will be developed via the BW Opal FPSO with six subsea production wells, in-field facilities and a gas export pipeline tied into the Bayu-Undan to Darwin pipeline system that supplies gas to Darwin LNG.
BW Offshore is responsible for engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and operation of the FPSO.
