Carnarvon is looking forward to adding to Australia’s ultra-light crude supply pool with the Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) progressing for its premier Dorado project.

FEED contracts were awarded for the project’s Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) and Well Head Platform to Altera Infrastructure and Sapura Energy last month.

These contracts are significant milestones for the Dorado liquids project development, which will have an initial production rate of up to 100,000 bbl/d commencing 2026.

An S&P Platts report published on 27 August 2021 notes that Australia will likely maintain its status as Asia’s major ultra-light crude supplier over the next decade, with the Dorado project likely to contribute heavily to the country’s ultra-light crude production in coming years.

Asian refiners and petrochemical makers have been depending heavily on Australia for condensate, or ultra-light crude supplies, ever since Iranian South Pars condensate trades came to a halt in the second quarter of 2019 due to international sanctions on Tehran.

The article also noted that major Asian condensate buyers, including South Korea’s Hanwha Total, Indonesia’s TPPI and Thailand’s PTT Global Chemical, are reportedly relieved to see new streams of ultra-light crude/condensate projects coming online from Oceania producers.

Australia’s ultra-light crude/condensate and natural gas production has been picking up rapidly in recent years, driven by a wave of new LNG projects, including Ichthys, Gorgon and Wheatstone.