Woodside gets green light for Scarborough

Woodside Energy Ltd.’s development proposal for the offshore sector of its Scarborough project following has been approved by Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) following the authority’s assessment of the potential environmental impacts over the life of the project.

Woodside said its Scarborough Offshore Project Proposal (OPP) is the primary Commonwealth environmental assessment document for the Scarborough project in Commonwealth waters and forms the basis for future activity-specific environment plans, which must also be assessed and approved by NOPSEMA.

The future activities include drilling the gas development wells, installation of the floating production unit, and installation of the undersea pipeline.

Planning for Scarborough is proceeding, albeit on a revised schedule due to the current uncertain global investment climate said Woodside Chief Executive Officer Peter Coleman.

“Scarborough is a world-class resource which we plan to develop at a globally competitive cost through our proposed Burrup gas hub,” he said. “Woodside is continuing work to ensure we have all necessary regulatory approvals and commercial agreements in place so that a final investment decision can be taken for Scarborough in 2021,” Coleman added.

Scarborough field contains an estimated contingent resource (2C) dry gas volume of 11.1 tcf. Woodside holds 73.5%. BHP holds 26.5%.