Santos eyes FPSO and wellhead platform development for Dorado

Australia’s Santos has revealed that its preferred concept for the Dorado field project, which is located offshore Australia, is an FPSO and wellhead platform development.

Dorado is located in WA-437-P in which Santos is the operator and holds an 80% interest and Carnarvon is its partner with the remaining 20% interest.

In its investor day presentation on Tuesday, Santos released initial ‘concept select’ information with respect to the proposed liquids development for the Dorado Project. The company’s preferred concept for the Dorado project is an FPSO and wellhead platform development. In the initial phase, Santos plans for oil and condensate development followed by future phase of gas export.

The Dorado oil, gas, and condensate field was discovered in 2018 and successfully appraised this calendar year.

In a separate statement on Tuesday, Carnarvon said that the project was currently in the late stages of the concept select phase for the liquids development, with a view to starting the Front End Engineering & Design (FEED) phase in early 2020.

During the FEED process, the final development and contracting strategy will be selected for key components of the development such as the number of wells and whether the Joint Venture leases or acquires an appropriate Floating Production Storage and Offtake (FPSO) vessel.

Carnarvon also said it had started early discussions with domestic and international banks who have indicated strong interest in financing the majority of its share of the development capital with senior debt. Oil traders have also indicated interest in providing structured finance as an additional source of funding to senior debt. Carnarvon will start a formal financing process once the development concept and contracting strategy has been finalized.

Managing Director, Adrian Cook, said: “The information released by the operator today demonstrates that the Dorado project has the potential for incredibly strong flow rates. Ultimately the initial flow rates will be dependent on the nature of the development. We look forward to finalizing the concept select in the coming months and announcing the beginning of the FEED work in the new year.”

In related news, Santos increased its 2025 production target further to 120 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe), more than double 2018’s output.

Offshore Energy Today Staff

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