BW Opal hull sails from South Korea to Singapore for topside integration

The hull for the BW Opal, a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel destined for Santos' Barossa gas project in Australia, has set sail from a yard in South Korea and is en route to Singapore for topside integration, BW Offshore said on November 9.

The hull is one of the largest FPSO hulls ever built, with an overall length of 358 meters and a width of 64 meters. It has been built over the last 22 months, from the first steel cut in November 2021.

Upon arrival at Seatrium yard in Singapore, fully completed process modules, E-house, and turret modules will be lifted onto 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 Barossa project is approximately 46% complete. Barossa's gas supplies are intended to extend the life of Santos' 3.7mn tonnes/year Darwin LNG facility in the Northern Territory. The $3.6bn investment programme got underway with the project's final investment decision in March 2021, with the first gas due in 2025.

The project 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.

Drilling at the project has been suspended since September last year after a judge set aside the acceptance by offshore regulator NOPSEMA of the environment plan covering the drilling activities.

Last week, the Federal Court of Australia granted an interim injunction to prevent Santos from commencing work on the Barossa gas export pipeline until November 13. The decision comes in connection with an application by an indigenous group seeking an order that Santos revise and resubmit the environment plan that was accepted by NOPSEMA in March 2020.