As Australia's offshore industry expanded, so has the market share of classification society American Bureau of Shipping in the region.

"Once the Four Lakes FPSO is installed in the Woollybutt field early in 2003, there will be a total of seven FPSOs and one MOPU offshore Australia," says William H. Backshell, ABS Country Manager for Australia.

"ABS will be the classification society of choice for four of the FPSOs and the MOPU. In addition, a lot of the older monopods and mini platforms that have reached their design certification expiry dates have been recertified by ABS for continued service."

Offshore development in Australian waters has been primarily confined to shallow and medium water depths to date. FPSO and FSO configurations are common, but a wide variety of installations have been employed, depending on site conditions, according to Ban Hooi Ang, ABS Pacific Director of Offshore Business Development.

"These range from simple monopod type wellhead platforms to concrete base structures with topsides to jack-up type hulls on jacketed structure foundations," he says.

One important regional ABS project is Vanguard SPC's ongoing Four Lakes FPSO conversion. When completed, the 94,000 dwt FPSO will be hired out to Agip Australia for work in the Woollybutt field. ABS was selected to fully class the vessel, including topsides and mooring systems.

"In addition," Ang notes, "we are carrying out statutory certifications, including LL, IOPP, Tonnage, and MODU Safety Certification on behalf of the Cayman Island Flag Administration.

"In addition to these we are also conducting the validation on behalf of the owner to satisfy the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources." Validation is the Australian counterpart to the verification for offshore projects as required by the UK HSE in the North Sea, and includes structural and topside design reviews, surveys during fabrication and installation.

Another ABS-classed FPSO is the 150,000 dwt Modec Venture 1, operating in the zone of cooperation jointly controlled by Australia and the newly independent nation of East Timor, which now controls oil and gas reserves in their territories that were formerly held by Indonesia. Political and economic turbulence in East Timor has affected some development in the region, and some projects are stalled while tax issues are renegotiated.

ABS has also provided validation work on five Apache wellhead platforms for the Simpson, Victoria, Double Island and Gibson South fields.

Previous ABS projects in the region include: The Apache Stag FSO, Dampier Spirit by Teekay Shipping; The Woodside Legendre FSO, Karatha Spirit by Teekay Shipping; The Woodside Legendre MOPU, Ocean Legend by Oceaneering; The Woodside Wanaea/Cossack FPSO, Cossack Pioneer; The BHPP Buffalo FPSO, Buffalo Venture (now owned and operated by Modec for Nexen Petroleum).

According to Ang, Australia has several major gas fields waiting for "innovative and viable solutions" for exploiting them. "The trend now is to exploit and export the gas to a long term buyer or the LNG spot market."