Santos Ltd. and joint venture partners aim to improve the economics of the Dorado Phase 1 liquids development project offshore Western Australia (OGJ Online, Mar. 6, 2023).
The partners plan to optimize the production rate to reduce the sizing of the floating production offtake and storage (FPSO) vessel, wellhead platform (WHP) and other infrastructure, as well as phase the timing of wells, partner Carnarvon Energy Ltd. said in a release July 18.
The changes are expected to reduce up-front capital expenditure and time to first oil. Any remaining wells would be drilled during production allowing them to be funded through project cash flows, the company said.
The joint venture is also assessing FPSO vessel redeployment options along with other donor hulls for FPSO conversion, which could further reduce costs and cut down time to first oil. Given the impact on engineering design and cost of utilizing this potentially lower-cost option, FEED re-entry is planned for later this year once the joint venture secures the best option vessel or hull, Carnarvon said. Final investment decision (FID) is expected in 2025.
Overall capital expenditure prior to first oil could fall below the previous guidance of about $2 billion.
Along with the engineering and design work to allow the project to progress to FID, work is ongoing for the requisite environment plans (EPs). The EPs for drilling, completion, WHP, and subsea systems installation are in progress. The JV has secured a production license and offshore project proposal.
Santos Ltd. is operator of Dorado (80%) with joint venture partners Carnarvon (10%) and OPIC Australia Pty Ltd. (10%).
Alex Procyk | Upstream Editor
Alex Procyk is Upstream Editor at Oil & Gas Journal. He has also served as a principal technical professional at Halliburton and as a completion engineer at ConocoPhillips. He holds a BS in chemistry (1987) from Kent State University and a PhD in chemistry (1992) from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).