Shell Australia has been granted approval from the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) for the drilling of proposed wildcat Bratwurst-1 in Ashmore Cartier permit AC/P64 in the Browse basin off Western Australia.
The well will be drilled in 155 m of water about 160 km northeast of Shell’s Prelude floating LNG (FLNG) facility. The well is expected to be spudded in midyear and take about 45 days to complete.
Shell says Bratwurst is a gas-condensate prospect and will be drilled by a semisubmersible rig supplied from the company’s base in Broome.
The well will then be plugged or suspended if further appraisal is required. A discovery has the potential for a tie-back to the Prelude FLNG facilities, which began production earlier this year.
The NOPSEMA approval includes potential for future side-tracking and testing in the event of a discovery.
