Beach Energy Ltd., Adelaide, has been given the go-ahead by Australian regulator NOPSEMA to drill its long-planned Artisan-1 wildcat in the offshore Otway basin of western Victoria.
Artisan-1, in exploration permit Vic/P43 about 32 km of the coast in a water depth of 71 m, was originally slated to spud early in 2020, but the drilling contract with Diamond Offshore Drilling was terminated due to the late arrival of the Ocean Onyx semisubmersible.
The rig was stacked in Port Phillip Bay near Melbourne for the remainder of 2020.
In August Beach and joint venture partner OG Energy executed a new agreement with Diamond Offshore in which the same rig will drill up to nine wells (six firm, three options) with work to begin between December 2020 and March 2021.
The first well in the program is the Artisan-1. It will be followed by a series of development wells in nearby Geographe and Thylacine gas fields.
Beach submitted its environmental plan to NOPSEMA in July 2020 and received official approval the week of Jan. 11.
