Construction of the large newbuild floating production, storage and offloading vessel for the controversial Barossa offshore gas project in Australia is progressing well, but the project itself is still shrouded in uncertainty due to not having regulatory approval for drilling.

The project’s development drilling operations ground to a halt last September when a federal court ruled in favour of an Aboriginal community group that had not been properly consulted with by project operator Santos in the pre-drill regulatory approvals phase.