Australian oil and gas giant Woodside has delayed the long-expected Final Investment Decision for the huge Browse gas development off W. Australia again. 

The offshore area comprising the Brecknock, Calliance, and Torosa fields - the Browse resource - sits in the offshore Browse Basin, around 425 kilometers north of Broome in Western Australia.

The project which aims to develop of 13.9 Tcf of dry gas and 390 MMbbl of condensate from the Browse resources was previously expected to reach FID on the development of the $20.5 billion project in late 2020, then in the first half of 2021, and now the timeline has been pushed again, with FID expected in late 2021. 

The Browse Joint Venture is ready to start FEED, subject to completion of gas processing agreement negotiations, Woodside said. Woodside is the operator with a 30.6% stake.

The FEED phase involves activities required to finalize the costs and technical definition ahead of FID and to prepare for the post-FID execution phase, including the preparation of contracts. 

Further engineering definition work is continuing in the lead up to FEED entry, Woodside said.

The Browse development concept utilizes two FPSO facilities and is designed to deliver 12 Mtpa of LNG/LPG and domestic gas through an approximately 915 km trunkline to existing NWS infrastructure, with condensate processed on the FPSOs. 

The first FPSO is expected to be ready for start-up in 2026 and the second FPSO in 2027.

Asked about the new FID date delay, Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said the Browse team has updated or has benchmarked the amount of time required to go through the FEED activities based on the complexity of the offshore facilities. 

"To put it into context, the topsides for the offshore facilities are around about 45,000 tonnes which puts them into the top decile of complexity on a global scale. Not as complex as FLNG but certainly as complex as some of the larger FPSO facilities that you will see around the world."

Coleman said that given that the value is made or lost on these projects in early engineering, a decision was made to extend the FEED period by a few months.

"We're also recognizing that the commercial negotiations are still not complete. We're down to the last three or four value items. But. it's difficult for me to predict when that will actually be closed at the moment."