Woodside’s active exploration and production program includes such projects as the Enfield and Vincent developments offshore Western Australia, the Angel Gas Project and the Pluto LNG field about 180 km from the Burrup Peninsula, the Bonaparte Basin in the Timor Sea and projects off the US West and Gulf coasts. Woodside is also undertaking a major exploration program off Mauritania, West Africa.

The agreement covers the energy major’s FPSO assets including production systems, equipment and safety systems. Classification will be to applicable ABS Rules. Verification will be to relevant international, national and state regulations, in particular Australia’s Petroleum Submerged Lands Act (PSLA) as it applies to the management of safety on offshore facilities.

Woodside operates the North West Shelf Venture, Australia's largest resource project. It also operates more than 75 joint ventures on behalf of 39 participants in Australia, Africa and the United States. ABS will provide engineering design review, survey services and act as a liaison on behalf of government agencies to facilitate the reviews and surveys conducted to fulfill the regulatory requirements of these agencies.

ABS already classes the Woodside operated FPSO Cossack Pioneer that has been on station on the North West Shelf for ten years. This new agreement significantly expands the relationship with Woodside in terms of the number of units and geographic scope of the ABS activities.

ABS holds the leading marketshare in offshore classification worldwide and has a well-established network of offices in Australia with exclusive surveyors in offices in Sydney, Cairns, Fremantle and Melbourne. The Woodside contract will be managed from the society’s Fremantle, West Australia office.

“The confidence Woodside has placed in ABS with this new agreement reflects the superior service and strong technical support we have given them on the Cossack Pioneer project,” says ABS Vice President of Energy Development William J. Sember. “The expanded agreement will allow us to build on the effective asset integrity management programs that we have developed specifically for FPSOs that utilize sophisticated risk methodologies to better protect these assets and maximize their production efficiencies.”