US giant ConocoPhillips has seen its proposal for its Barossa development off northern Australia approved by the country’s regulator.

The National Offshore Safety & Environmental Management Authority (Nopsema) revealed Tuesday it had approved the first offshore project proposal for the Barossa Area development.

The approval followed eight weeks of public consideration and comment, and last month Nopsema knocked back ConocoPhillips’ initial application, requesting further information be submitted.

The approval of the offshore project proposal does not allow any work to commence on the proposed development however, with ConocoPhillips and its partners still required to obtain further approvals.

The operator is now working on an environment plan for the proposed development which will then be submitted to Nopsema for assessment.

Joint venture partner Santos said the approval from Nopsema placed Barossa firmly in the lead to supply backfill gas for the ConocoPhillips-operated Darwin liquefied natural gas plant, where the Australian company also holds an 11.5% interest.

In a separate statement on Wednesday, Santos said the approval milestone placed Barossa as the only gas source on track to be able to deliver gas to Darwin LNG when production from Bayu-Undan, which currently feeds the plant, ends in the early 2020s.

“Acceptance of the OPP gives us a level of regulatory comfort and the certainty we need to enter the front-end engineering and design phase in the very near future,” Santos chief executive Kevin Gallagher said.

“This is one of the major regulatory steps leading to offshore project development and petroleum production, and it reinforces Barossa’s position as the only gas supply source capable of meeting Darwin LNG’s timetable.”

The Barossa development lies in retention lease NT/RL5 in the Bonarparte basin, roughly 300 kilometres north of Darwin in the Timor Sea.

ConocoPhillips is proposing to develop the field using a permanently moored floating production, storage and offloading vessel, subsea production system, subsea infrastructure and a subsea gas export pipeline.

Gas and condensate will be separated at the FPSO, with the condensate to be exported from the facility offtake tankers.

The gas meanwhile will be sent via the export pipeline to the existing Bayu-Undan to Darwin gas export pipeline which feeds the onshore Darwin LNG facility at Wickham Point in the Northern Territory.

ConocoPhillips’ proposal could also see the potential staged development of the nearby Caldita field to the south in NT/RL6 in the future.

The Barossa development is expected to produce 3.7 million tonnes per annum of LNG and 1.5 million barrels of condensate a year.

The project has an anticipated 25-year life, with first gas currently expected in 2023.

ConocoPhililps operates Barossa with a 37.5% stake in partnership with SK Energy (37.5%) and Santos (25%).

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Barossa proposal approved