March 24 (Reuters) - Oil and gas producer Santos Ltd STO.AX said on Wednesday it expects to make a final investment decision (FID) on its Barossa project in the coming weeks, after it postponed the call last year due to a pandemic-induced oil price crash.
The FID on the Barossa gas project off northern Australia was earlier expected in the March 2020 quarter, before it was deferred to the first half of 2021.
Barossa's development is key to Santos as it will help keep the company's Darwin LNG plant open, since the gas field that feeds it currently is set to run dry in 2022.
Santos said it has awarded a contract for the construction and operation of the offshore floating, storage and processing vessel for the project to international vessel builder BW Offshore BWO.OL .
The contract achieves an overall reduction of about $1 billion in capital expenditure, Santos said in a statement.
Barossa project is a joint venture, with Santos holding a 62.5% interest and South Korea's SK E&S owning the rest.