MODEC to Provide FPSO for Barossa Field off Australia

Offshore floating platforms supplier and operator Modec has signed a contract with ConocoPhillips to supply a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for the Barossa field, offshore Australia.

The Barossa FPSO is intended to produce gas and condensate from subsea wells and after treatment, supply feed gas to the Darwin LNG plant via a gas export pipeline.

The Barossa FPSO will be the first application of the company’s “M350 Hull”, a next generation hull for FPSOs with full double hull design. The design has been developed to accommodate larger topsides and larger storage capacity than conventional VLCC tankers, with a longer design service life of 25 years and beyond.

The hull will be built by Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd. (DSIC) in Dalian, China.

Modec noted that the Barossa FPSO would be its largest “gas FPSO” to date, capable of exporting over 600 million standard cubic feet of gas per day as well as store up to 650,000 barrels of condensate for export. It has been designed to withstand a 100-year cyclone event at a water depth of 260 meters and located some 300 kilometers off north of Darwin, Australia.

Scheduled for delivery during 2023, the FPSO will be permanently moored by an internal turret mooring system supplied by a MODEC group company, SOFEC, Inc.

The FPSO features a boiler and steam turbine based power generation system instead of conventional gas turbines, which helps reduce the carbon dioxide footprint of the facility.