Offshore staff
WEST PERTH, Australia — FEED work for the Santos-operated Dorado Field development offshore Western Australia is almost complete, with the project close to being FID-ready.
The main outstanding issue, according to partner Carnarvon Energy, is finalization of the EPC contract for the FPSO, with a need for a more stable cost environment along with greater certainty around supply chain capacity, as the FPSO represents more than 50% of the expected project cost.
Engineering work is almost finished for the floater and the wellhead platform, with a focus on a “robust” technical design for producing Dorado’s oil and gas and allowing for tiebacks of other fields.
The initial phase of the development will involve drilling 10 wells into the four reservoirs (Caley, Baxter, Crespin and Milne), with the hydrocarbons produced via a 16-slot WHP to an FPSO with a processing capacity of 100,000 bbl/d of oil, a 215-MMcf/d gas injection capacity and storage for about 1 MMbbl of oil and condensate.
Pre-development work has started for this year’s nearby Pavo find, with a discovery assessment report being filed with the regulator. The Pavo-1 well discovered 43 MMbbl within the northern part of the Pavo structure, which the partners intend to develop through the Dorado FPSO.
The main focus of the studies is to ensure that the current FPSO design can accommodate the Pavo fluids with a minimal requirement for further enhancements during tieback operations.
And since the Pavo South structure appears to contain a further prospective resource of 55 MMbbl, the partners are assessing drilling options.
Carnarvon may seek to divest part of its share of the Dorado project and associated exploration acreage prior to taking FID.
Santos is working with the Australian regulator NOPSEMA on acceptance of the offshore project proposal, a prerequisite for the partners to progress subsequent approvals and to sanction the Dorado development.
08.17.2022
