ABL awarded FSO installation job in Papua New Guinea
ABL has secured an agreement with Oil Search (PNG) Limited, a subsidiary of Santos Ltd, as the operator of the PNG Oilfields Projects, to provide services linked to a new floating storage and offloading (“FSO”) facility.
Under the contract, ABL will provide marine warranty survey services (MWS) offshore Papua New Guinea, and at international locations, to support the supply, transportation, installation, pre-commissioning and commissioning of vital equipment.
This FSO will be Papua New Guinea’s first offshore floating facility and will be deployed at the Kumul Marine Terminal as part of the Kutubu Pipeline System. It will play a critical role in the storage and offloading of liquid hydrocarbons, including crude oil and condensate, produced from various fields, while the associated gas is fed into the PNG LNG Project.

“This is a landmark project for Papua New Guinea that we are proud to support. We will apply decades of specialised MWS experience to oversee the safe transportation and installation of the FSO mooring, pipelines and other vital subsea infrastructure,”
says Sujith Mathew, engineering manager at ABL in Australia.
ABL’s MWS scope includes overseeing pipe load-out operations in India, load-out of coated pipe, spools and pipeline-end manifolds (PLEM) at Batam in Indonesia, and flexible riser load-out in Newcastle, UK. On-site in Papua New Guinea, the ABL team will approve pipelaying and the installation of PLEMs, the FSO mooring installation and FSO hook-up to mooring, and the flexible riser pull-in. ABL will also provide yard attendance in Indonesia.

“Our MWS role is essential to ensure that marine operations are carried out safely, in accordance with applicable regulations and industry standards, and with the appropriate level of risk mitigation measures in place. This is particularly important for high-value or complex marine operations such as this project offshore Papua New Guinea,”
says Tim Field Dodgson, principal marine engineer at ABL’s Australian operation.
ABL’s operation in Australia will head up the project, supported by the company’s offices in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the UK. The scope of work is expected to run through to 2028.
