Diamond Offshore’s Ocean Monarch semisubmersible drilling rig has begun preparations for a move to Victorian waters where it will drill a series of wells for Adelaide-based Cooper Energy Ltd., including development of Sole gas field (OGJ Online, Sept. 1, 2017).
The rig is being towed from Fremantle in Western Australia and the program will begin with a workover of the Casino-5 production well in Cooper’s Casino Henry gas project in the Otway basin off western Victoria. The voyage to Casino is expected to take as long as 25 days depending on weather conditions on its route along Australia’s southern coast.
On completion of the Casino Henry work, the rig will be moved to the eastern Bass Strait where it will complete the Sole-3 and Sole-4 production wells as part of the development of Cooper’s Sole gas project.
Cooper has 100% interest in Sole field, which is expected to come on stream in 2019.
The field is in retention licence Vic/RL3 and lies off the east Gippsland coast of Victoria about 60 km from the Orbost gas plant where the gas will be processed prior to delivery to the Eastern Gas Pipeline that extends to Sydney.
Cooper has already bought $9-10 million (Aus.) in long-lead equipment for the field development to ensure the target date for first gas is met.
Sole field was first discovered by Shell Australia in 1973.