ConocoPhillips subsidiary ConocoPhillips Australia Pty Ltd has awarded three engineering contracts for the front-end engineering design, or FEED, phase of the Barossa offshore project, according to June 17 news release.

Barossa, an offshore gas and light condensate project, proposes to provide a new source of gas to the existing Darwin LNG facility. The company said that existing infrastructure owners are assessing several options to backfill the facility from 2023 when the current offshore gas supply from Bayu-Undan is expected to be exhausted. The project's offshore development concept includes a floating production storage and offloading, or FPSO, facility; subsea production system; and gas export pipeline to be located 300 kilometers north of Darwin.

Following an extensive bid process, separate FPSO FEED contracts were awarded to MODEC Inc. and a consortium between TechnipFMC PLC and Samsung Heavy Industries while a FEED contract for the subsea infrastructure and gas pipeline was given to INTECSEA. The FEED contract for the FPSO facility will be conducted as a design competition between two contractor groups.

ConocoPhillips Australia West President Chris Wilson said they expect to make a final investment decision at the end of 2019.

The Barossa joint venturers are ConocoPhillips Australia Barossa Pty Ltd as operator with a 37.5% stake, SK E&S Australia Pty., Ltd. which holds 37.5% interest while the remaining 25% is owned by Santos Offshore Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Santos Ltd.