Esso Australia’s West Barracouta gas field in Bass Strait, off the Victorian coast, has been brought on stream to supply eastern Australia’s domestic gas market.
The $400-million (Aus.) project has been described as the largest domestic gas development for eastern Australia this decade. It will deliver gas to help mitigate the shortfall in gas supplies predicted for southeast Australia as early as 2023.
The new development comprises two production wells and associated subsea production facilities, a 5 km-long pipeline and 6 km control umbilical connected to existing Bass Strait infrastructure that feeds gas into the onshore gas processing plant at Longford, near Sale in eastern Victoria.
Esso, along with its 50% joint venture partner BHP, has been supplying domestic gas from Bass Strait for the last 50 years and Esso says that the region still has the potential to supply one third of southeast Australia’s gas needs well into the future.
