By Alison Bevege
SYDNEY, June 17 (Reuters) - ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) has awarded three engineering contracts for the design of the major Barossa gas project intended to supply its Darwin LNG export plant for more than 20 years, the firm said on Sunday.
Barossa is an offshore gas and light condensate project in Australian territorial waters in the Timor Sea, 300 km (186 miles) north of the northern city of Darwin.
It is expected to produce about 3.7 million tonnes per year of liquefied natural gas and 1.5 million barrels per year of condensate once it begins production, Australia's offshore petroleum regulator has said.
ConocoPhillips will make a final investment decision on the project at the end of next year.
"We look forward to working together with our selected front-end engineering design contractors to develop sufficient certainty of cost, schedule and execution planning," Chris Wilson, president of ConocoPhillips Australia West, said in a statement.
The company did not reveal the value of the contracts, on gounds of confidentiality.
The Darwin LNG plant, majority-owned and operated by ConocoPhillips CONPH.UL sells all its gas to Japan through Tokyo Gas and JERA, a joint venture between Japanese firms Tokyo Electric 9501.T and Chibu Electric, it says on its website.
Barossa is the first stage of the Barossa-Caldita proposal accepted by the regulator, National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA), in March, and would involve a floating ship producing from six wells.
Japan's Mitsui Ocean Development & Engineering Company 6269.T , which supplies offshore floating platforms, has been awarded a contract to help design the floating, production, storage and offloading ship.
A consortium of Britain-headquartered engineering giant TechnipFMC FTI.N and Korean shipbuilder Samsung (KS:005930) Heavy Industries 010140.KS also won a design contract for the same vessel.
ConocoPhillips will pick a design after the final investment decision.
INTECSEA, a subsidiary of Australian firm WorleyParsons WOR.AX has been awarded the third contract to design subsea infrastructure and a new 260-km to 290-km (160-mile to 180-mile) pipeline to carry gas to ConocoPhillips' existing pipeline.
ConocoPhillips owns 37.5 percent of the Barossa joint venture and is the operator. The other owners are SK E&S Australia, part of Korean conglomerate SK Group, which has 37.5 percent, and Santos which holds 25 percent.
ConocoPhillips is also the majority owner and operator of the Bayu-Undan-Darwin subsea pipeline and the Darwin LNG plant. Other coventurers are Santos STO.AX , INPEX 1605.T , Eni ENI.MI , Tokyo Gas 9531.T , and JERA.