FPSO leasing company BW Offshore said Thursday that the hull of BW Opal, one of the largest FPSO hulls ever built and destined for Santos' Barossa gas project in Australia, had set sail from a yard in South Korea and was en route to Singapore for topside integration.
"On October 28, 2023, at 11:30 local time, the newbuild hull for the BW Opal FPSO, which is based on BW Offshore’s RapidFramework concept, started tow from the SK Oceanplant (SKOP) yard in South Korea, to the integration shipyard in Singapore, where it is expected to arrive later this month," BW Offshore said.
The hull has an overall length of 358 meters and a width of 64 meters.
The hull has been built over the last 22 months, starting with the first steel cuttin on November 24, 2021.
The hull is built in six giga blocks, which have been joined in the floating dock. The hull was launched in June 2023, and subsequently, living quarters, engine casing, and topsides process pipe racks have been installed. 
Credit: BW Offshore
In addition to steel, 670 kilometers of cable has been pulled and around 30,000 pipe spools have been installed to complete construction, mechanical completion and pre-commissioning activities.
Upon arrival in Seatrium yard in Singapore, fully completed process modules, E-house and Turret modules will be lifted onto the hull to start integration activities. After completion of integration and commissioning, the fully commissioned BW Opal FPSO will start its voyage to Australia to start production in the first half of 2025.
The Final Investment Decision (FID) for the FPSO for the Barossa project was confirmed by Santos and its partners on March 30, 2021, with a services contract including Operation & Maintenance (O&M) with a firm period of 15 years, and 10 years of options.
The Barossa gas field is located 300 kilometers offshore Darwin in northern Australia and will be developed via the BW Opal FPSO with six subsea production wells, in-field facilities, and a gas export pipeline tied into the Bayu-Undan to Darwin pipeline system that supplies gas to Darwin LNG. BW Offshore is responsible for engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and operation of the FPSO.
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