BW Offshore closes $1.15bn project financing for Barossa FPSO

BW Offshore closes $1.15bn project financing for Barossa FPSO

Oslo-listed BW Offshore has completed the $1.15bn project debt financing for the construction and operation of the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for the Santos-operated Barossa gas field.

The combined construction and long-term debt facility has been provided by a syndicate of 9 international banks and will be gradually drawn over the course of the project period. It has a tenor of 14 years with a balloon at maturity and carries a base interest rate plus 2.50% margin during construction and 2.25% margin during the operational phase.

The financing will become non-recourse once the FPSO has been completed and the pre-completion guarantee has been released.

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 engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and operation of the FPSO.

The Barossa development will comprise an FPSO vessel, subsea production wells, supporting subsea infrastructure and a gas export pipeline tied into the existing Bayu-Undan to Darwin LNG pipeline. First gas production is targeted for the first half of 2025.

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Published: 31-08-2021