Oslo-listed BW Offshore has entered into a partnership for the equity financing of the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for the Santos-operated Barossa gas field offshore Australia.
The partnership is designed as a joint venture, where BW Offshore has a share of 51%, while ICMK Offshore Investment has 25% and Macquarie Bank 24%.
The Barossa FPSO will be financed by a 14-year combined construction and long-term debt facility of $1.15bn and $240m from the equity joint venture, as well as approximately $1bn in pre-payments by Santos and the Barossa joint venture partners during the construction period.
The Barossa FPSO services contract has an initial production period of 15 years, with options to extend the production period for a further 10 years. The contract value based on the initial production period of 15 years is $4.6bn. BW Offshore will be responsible for the engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and operation of the FPSO.
