ExxonMobil begins Bass Strait drilling campaign

Dec. 18, 2014
The ExxonMobil Corp.-operated joint venture with BHP Billiton Ltd. and Santos Ltd. has begun a $335 million (Aus.) offshore drilling campaign in Bass Strait encompassing five Turrum field wells to bolster the $4.5-billion Kipper-Tuna-Turrum development project that came on stream in November 2013.

The ExxonMobil Corp.-operated joint venture with BHP Billiton Ltd. and Santos Ltd. has begun a $335 million (Aus.) offshore drilling campaign in Bass Strait encompassing five Turrum field wells to bolster the $4.5-billion Kipper-Tuna-Turrum development project that came on stream in November 2013.

Four gas development wells and one oil development well will be directionally drilled from the new Marlin B platform. The program will continue into the second half of next year.

Turrum holds an estimated 1 tcf of gas and 110 million bbl of oil and gas liquids.

Turrum and Tuna are held 50-50 by ExxonMobil and BHP Billiton, while Kipper field is Santos 35%, and ExxonMobil and BHPB 32.5% each.

In other moves, ExxonMobil has abandoned its project targeting coal seam gas in the onshore Gippsland coal measures of the Latrobe Valley citing policy challenges.

There has been a moratorium on fracing wells onshore Victoria for several years.