Rick Wilkinson
OGJ Correspondent
MELBOURNE, Dec. 18 -- The Origin Energy Ltd.-led joint venture in the BassGas Project off Tasmania has decided to proceed with a midlife enhancement (MLE) program involving an expenditure of $345 million (Aus.).
The project focuses on Yolla gas-condensate field in the Bass basin off northern Tasmania, which currently sends gas and liquids by marine and land pipeline to a processing plant at Lang Lang southeast of Melbourne, Victoria.
The new work will extend the life of the project, which now yields about 23 PJ/year of sales gas, 1 million bbl/year of condensate, and 65,000 tonnes/year of LPG.
It will include the drilling of two development wells (Yolla-5 and Yolla-6), installation of on-platform accommodation, and additional compression and safety-related facilities. These measures are designed to improve the operating efficiency of the platform and extend the life of the whole project. The new accommodation modules will minimize the costlier use of helicopters and increase flexibility for routine work offshore.
The new wells and accommodation facilities will be operational by mid-2011. The compression upgrades should be available by mid-2012.
Separately, Origin is conducting a $56 million maintenance campaign at the onshore gas plant and offshore production platform as well as addressing production constraints in the Yolla-3 and Yolla-4 wells. It is expected that the facility will be offline until the end of February 2010.
Origin and AWE Ltd., both based in Sydney hold 42.5% each. CalEnergy Gas (Australia) Ltd. has 15%. AWE and Innamincka Petroleum, Brisbane, recently agreed to purchase CalEnergy’s share.
US Department of the Interior.
File photo from PDVSA..
