ABL on FSO installation duty for Papua New Guinea’s first offshore floating facility

July 22, 2026, by Melisa Cavcic

Energy and marine consultancy ABL, part of Oslo-listed global consultancy group Aqualis, has landed a new installation job with Oil Search (PNG), a subsidiary of Australia’s Santos, for a floating storage and offloading (FSO) unit off the coast of Papua New Guinea.

ABL has secured an agreement with Oil Search, as the operator of the PNG oilfields projects, to provide services linked to a new FSO facility, including marine warranty survey services (MWS) offshore Papua New Guinea and support the supply, transportation, installation, pre-commissioning and commissioning of vital equipment at international locations.

The company explains that this FSO will be the country’s first offshore floating facility, which will be deployed at the Kumul marine terminal as part of the Kutubu pipeline system. The unit is expected to play a critical role in the storage and offloading of liquid hydrocarbons, including crude oil and condensate, produced from various fields, while the associated gas is fed into the PNG LNG project.

Sujith Mathew, Engineering Manager at ABL in Australia, commented: “This is a landmark project for Papua New Guinea that we are proud to support. We will apply decades of specialised MWS experience to oversee the safe transportation and installation of the FSO mooring, pipelines and other vital subsea infrastructure.”

ABL’s MWS scope encompasses overseeing pipe load-out operations in India, load-out of coated pipe, spools and pipeline-end manifolds (PLEM) at Batam in Indonesia, and flexible riser load-out in Newcastle, UK.

The firm’s team will approve pipelaying and the installation of PLEMs, the FSO mooring installation, FSO hook-up to mooring, and the flexible riser pull-in on-site in Papua New Guinea. ABL will also provide yard attendance in Indonesia.

The company’s operation in Australia will head up the project, supported by the company’s offices in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the UK. The scope of work is expected to run through to 2028.

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Tim Field Dodgson, Principal Marine Engineer at ABL’s Australian operation, underlined: “Our MWS role is essential to ensure that marine operations are carried out safely, in accordance with applicable regulations and industry standards, and with the appropriate level of risk mitigation measures in place.

“This is particularly important for high-value or complex marine operations such as this project offshore Papua New Guinea.”

This deal comes shortly after ABL’s parent company, Aqualis, completed the acquisition of SynergenOG, a Malaysia‑based process safety and technical risk management consultancy for the energy industry.