BW Offshore’s FPSO tucks ‘important’ milestone under its belt

June 15, 2026, by Melisa Cavcic

Norway’s floating production solutions provider BW Offshore has revealed a new operational achievement for a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, which is deployed at a Santos-operated giant gas project off the coast of Australia.

BW Offshore has disclosed the completion of the interim performance test (IPT) for the FPSO BW Opal, as part of the commissioning program for Santos’ Barossa LNG project offshore northern Australia. The Barossa project is a joint venture between Santos (50%), PRISM Energy International Australia – formerly SK E&S – (37.5%), and JERA (12.5%).

The company claims that the completion of IPT constitutes an “important” operational milestone for the FPSO, confirming that key production, processing and utility systems on the vessel are operating in an integrated manner and are capable of delivering stable performance under production conditions.

Following the restart of production in early May 2026, the FPSO BW Opal has continued gas production and export. BW Offshore explains that production is being managed in close coordination with the operator of the Barossa field during this phase of the ramp-up and commissioning program.

The company emphasizes that it remains focused on safe and stable operations, the completion of the remaining commissioning activities, and progress toward practical completion, which will mark the commencement of the long-term firm contract period for the vessel.

This FPSO, which is situated at the Barossa gas field, approximately 285 kilometers offshore Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia, is expected to feed the Darwin LNG plant for the next two decades.