PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Oil and gas major Santos has awarded the front-end engineering design (FEED) contract for the design, construction and installation of the wellhead platform (WHP) for the Dorado project, offshore Western Australia, to Sapura Energy.

The WHP will be an unmanned installation, located in 90 m water over the Dorado oil and gas field, hosting the development wells and gas reinjection wells with minimal processing facilities, remotely operated from a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility some 2 km away.

The award of the WHP FEED contract comes just days after Santos awarded the FEED contract for the FPSO facility to Altera Infrastructure.

“This contract for the wellhead platform is the project’s last significant commitment as we progress towards a project final investment decision around the middle of next year,” Santos MD and CEO Kevin Gallagher said.

“The WHP is a critical component of the development, requiring a company with Sapura’s deep construction and installation experience. The design allows for the integrated development of both the gas and liquids resource and retains sufficient flexibility to support future exploration success, with the Pavo and Apus prospects to be drilled early next year.

“Whilst operating unmanned, the WHP will have several innovative features including sophisticated reservoir performance monitoring functionality to facilitate optimal reservoir recovery.”

Dorado is an integrated oil and gas project which is planned to be developed in two phases. The initial development involves the production of oil and condensate through a WHP and FPSO.

The project is expeted to have an iniital gross liquids production rate of between 75 000 bbl/d and 100 000 bbl/d of high-quality crude, wih first production targeted for 2026.

Gas will be reinjected in the initial phase to enhance oil and condensate recovery, followed by a planned future phase of gas production to backfill Santos’ domestic gas infrastructure in Western Australia.

Dorado is a very low carbon dioxide (CO₂) reservoir with approximately 1.5% CO₂ and reinjection of gas in the initial phase, making it one of the lowest emission intensity oil projects in the region.

The project has a federal government approved Australian Industry Participation Plan ensuring full, fair and reasonable opportunities for Australian industry to compete for work. This is accessible via the Industry Capability Network website.

Santos has an 80% interest in the Dorado project and is operator. The remaining interest is held by Carnarvon Petroleum.