Santos says it has reached a crucial milestone in putting the Barossa gas field off Darwin into production.

A massive floating factory that is the production centrepiece of the $4.7 billion project has received its first gas, the company announced on Monday.

The BW Opal is one of the most advanced floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) units ever constructed, Santos said.

At 358m long and 64m wide, the Opal is the length of three-and-a-half rugby fields, and was assembled in Singapore by Norwegian company BW Offshore.

It includes accommodation for up to 140 people and can handle up to 850 million cubic feet of gas per day, Santos said.

The floating unit will be permanently located in the Barossa gas field about 285km offshore from Darwin, and feed the city’s LNG plant for

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