McDermott International, Inc. has signed a contract with Woodside Energy Ltd. to undertake a front-end engineering and design activities for a floating production unit (FPU) for the Scarborough field gas development in Western Australia.

McDermott's center of excellence in The Hague, Netherlands, will lead the study and early engineering. Upon completion, the contract includes the option to progress to an engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contract should the project be approved for full development by Woodside and its Scarborough joint venture partners.

"Woodside is a key customer of our Company, and it is therefore outstanding to see such an important project leveraging off McDermott's global capabilities," said Ian Prescott, McDermott's Senior Vice President for Asia Pacific. "In partnering with Woodside on the front-end engineering and design study, we will use our best-in-class engineering know-how and project execution expertise to ensure successful delivery of the project."

The FPU processes natural gas, which includes gas separation, dehydration and compression as well as Mono Ethylene Glycol (MEG) regeneration and water handling. The topside will be designed for a production capacity of 7-9 metric tons per annum and will be placed on a semi-submersible hull in 2,952 feet (900 meters) water depth. The FPU will be remotely operated and minimally manned.

The Scarborough gas field is located approximately 236 miles (380 kilometers) off the Burrup Peninsula in the Northwestern Shelf of Australia and contains 7.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves. The development covers 12 daisy-chained subsea wells to be tied back to a semisubmersible FPU located at the Scarborough field, with onshore processing on the Burrup Peninsula.

The award will be reflected in McDermott's first quarter 2019 backlog.