Two development projects in the Asia-Pacific region are making solid progress with a development plan submitted for an Australian project, while calls for bids have been issued for a field offshore Vietnam.

U.S. player ConocoPhillips has handed in a development plan for its Barossa Area project in the Timor Sea off Australia. The Barossa Area covers the Barossa and Caldita fields in the Bonaparte Basin. The project is located 300 km (186 miles) north of Darwin, Northern Territory.

ConocoPhillips said the project is estimated to produce LNG at a rate of 3.7 million tonnes a year and condensate at 1.5 MMbbl per year. First gas is expected in 2023. The project is forecast to have a life span of about 20 years.

The development concept includes a permanently moored FPSO vessel, subsea production system and a subsea gas export pipeline.

The FPSO facility will separate natural gas and condensate extracted from the field, and the condensate will be exported directly from the FPSO facility to offtake tankers in the Barossa offshore development area. The dry gas will be transported via a subsea gas export pipeline for onshore processing.

The development plan is to connect the new subsea gas export pipeline to the existing Bayu-Undan infrastructure that will transport production to the Darwin gas export pipeline, which feeds the onshore Darwin LNG facility at Wickham Point. This would enable the transport of dry gas from the Barossa Field to Darwin for liquefaction and export.

Gas from the Barossa Field would replace the existing supply from the Bayu-Undan Field once it is depleted, which is forecast for 2022.

Pre-FEED work for the project is ongoing and will be followed by FEED in 2018. The final investment decision for the project is expected in 2019.

“The FPSO facility concept will deliver gas supply continuity for the already existing Darwin LNG facility, which not only greatly reduces development costs but importantly also has a significant socioeconomic benefit and social investment flow-on effects such as creation of local jobs and supplier opportunities to the Darwin community,” ConocoPhillips said.

Tender Invitations Near For Vietnam Platform

State-owned PetroVietnam is gearing up to issue invitations to tender (ITTs) for a production platform at the Block B gas development project offshore Vietnam.

The move toward tendering follows the previous prequalification of up to five interested contractors that are eager to bid on the project. With many projects shelved or delayed due to the oil and gas industry’s downturn, this workload would be a prized contract to win.

PetroVietnam’s subsidiary Phu Quoc Petroleum Operating Co. is preparing to launch the bidding process to construct the main platform linked to the Block B development.

Five construction big hitters entered the prequalification stage earlier this year. The hopefuls were Samsung Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, SembCorp Marine, Hyundai Heavy Industries and McDermott, according to reports.

However, it is not yet clear how many got through the prequalification phase. So ITTs could be completed by all five or fewer.

Wheatstone Startup Imminent

Woodside Energy reports that the startup of the giant Wheatstone LNG development offshore Western Australia “is imminent.”

Originally, startup of the Chevron-operated Wheatstone project was scheduled for year-end 2016, but in February 2016 the project was delayed until mid-2017.

Woodside said the final commissioning of the Wheatstone LNG Train 1 is nearing completion.

The Australian player added that the offshore platform hookup and commissioning required for LNG Train 1 startup was complete and trunkline pressurized, ready to supply gas onshore.

At the time of the installation in 2015, the Wheatstone platform was the largest offshore gas processing platform ever installed off Australia, with a topsides weight of about 37,000 metric tons.

The project will develop the Wheatstone, Iago, Julimar and Brunello gas fields. The Wheatstone and nearby Iago natural fields lie about 200 km (124 miles) north of Onslow off the Pilbara coast. The Julimar and Brunello fields will be tied back to the central processing platform.

Woodside did not give an exact date for Wheatstone startup. LNG Train 2 startup is expected between six and eight months after LNG Train 1 startup, Woodside said.

ExxonMobil Goes Cool On East Natuna

U.S. major ExxonMobil “no longer wishes to continue further discussions or activity” involving the East Natuna natural gas block offshore Indonesia, which is estimated to hold one of the world’s largest reserves of undeveloped gas, according to a Reuters report.

Erwin Maryoto, vice president of public and government affairs for ExxonMobil Indonesia, said the decision was taken after completing a “technology and market review.”

ExxonMobil’s exit likely means further delays in developing a field that was discovered in the 1970s. Problems with the field have included contract disputes and the remoteness of the block, which is on the southern edge of the South China Sea, Reuters reported.

The East Natuna Field holds about 1.3 Tcm (46 Tcf) of recoverable gas resources, according to ExxonMobil, although it comes with a CO2 content of more than 70%, which increases the production costs.

State-owned Pertamina had expected to sign a production-sharing contract with ExxonMobil and Thailand’s state player PTTEP for the project in 2016, but more delays set this back.

Indonesia’s government has received a letter from ExxonMobil on its decision to pull out of the gas block, Wiratmaja Puja, director general of oil and gas at the Energy Ministry, told reporters.

“Surely Pertamina wouldn’t be able to develop the block alone, we need a partner,” Syamsu Alam, Pertamina’s upstream director, told Reuters.

—Steve Hamlen