PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A final investment has been made for the Van Gogh infill development Phase 2 project, oil and gas giant Santos reported.

The project will involve the drilling and completing of three new horizontal, dual-lateral production wells and subsea tieback into existing infrastructure, and would maximise field production while accessing additional reserves and would lower unit production costs.

“It’s little more than a year since the startup of Phase 1, so I’m delighted to see a final investment decision being advanced on Phase 2 in such a short time,” said Santos MD and CEO Kevin Gallagher.

“Phase 1 proved to be a very successful project, with higher reserves delivered for lower cost, the value of which was enhanced by a strong premium to Brent realised for this crude.”

The Van Gogh field is one of three subsea oil field developments located in the Exmouth basin, offshore Western Australia, which tie into the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel the Ningaloo Vision.

Production from Van Gogh began in 2010, with the Coniston and Novara fields tied in to Ningaloo Vision in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

First oil from the Phase 2 project is targeted for late 2021.

Santos holds a 52.5% interest in the three projects, with the remaining share held by project partner INPEX.

Meanwhile, Santos on Tuesday also reported the award of contracts for the supply and installation of subsea infrastructure for its Barossa project, marking the last major facilities commitment ahead of a final investment decision.

The contract for the transport and installation of the subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines, as well as the supply of the in-field flowlines, has been awarded to Subsea 7, while Aker Solutions will supply the umbilicals and National Oilwel Varco Denmark will supply the flexible risers.

“These are the final major facilities contracts for Barossa as we get closer to pushing the button on the project’s development in the second quarter. They follow the award of the FPSO facility, subsea wells and subsea production system, and gas export pipeline tenders, with the contract for the drilling of the production wells to be awarded in the near future,” Gallagher said.

The Barossa gasfield sits within Santos’ Northern Australia portfolio, one of the company’s core long-life, natural gas asset regions. The company holds a 25% interest in the joint venture.

The current development concept is based on an FPSO, six subsea production wells, supporting in-field subsea infrastructure and a gas export pipeline tied into the existing Bayu-Undan to Darwin pipeline, supplying gas to the Darwin liquefied natural gas plant.