BHP, Woodside move to decommission Stybarrow field

July 1, 2015
BHP Billiton Ltd. and Woodside Petroleum Ltd. have started preparations for decommissioning of the Stybarrow group of oil fields in production licence WA-32-L offshore Western Australia towards yearend. The field has been producing for 8 years.

BHP Billiton Ltd. and Woodside Petroleum Ltd. have started preparations for decommissioning of the Stybarrow group of oil fields in production licence WA-32-L offshore Western Australia towards yearend. The field has been producing for 8 years.

As operator, BHP has lodged the first documents to the National Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority to begin the abandonment process.

The Stybarrow project, including Stybarrow and Eskdale fields, was originally flagged to produce 60-90 million bbl over 10 years. At the end of this year, 60 million bbl will have been produced.

The fields were found in 2003 in 825 m of water and developed using the Stybarrow Venture floating production, storage, and offloading vessel, which came on stream in 2007.

The facility comprises 6 production wells, 2 gas-lift wells, 1 gas-injection well, and 2 water-injection wells. Development costs were $760 million.

The MODEC Inc.-operated FPSO, leased for an initial 10-year period with the option of 1-year extensions for a further 5 years, will have its contract terminated early.