Esso Australia to begin Gippsland decommissioning campaign
Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd, (Esso) has let a marine warranty survey (MWS) services contract to ABL for the Gippsland Decommissioning Campaign #1 Project in the Bass Strait between Australia and Tasmania.
Esso is operator of the assets in the Bass Strait that are part of the Gippsland Basin Joint Venture. The assets include about 400 wells, six subsea facilities, more than 800 km of subsea pipelines, and 19 platforms. Now, after delivering energy to Australia for over 50 years, Esso plans to undertake the first Bass Strait decommissioning campaign.
Material to be removed as part of Campaign #1 activities lie in water depths ranging from 38 m (Dolphin) to 94 m (Mackerel). Their distance from the coast ranges from 21 km (Dolphin) to 77 km (Kingfish B).
About 60,000 tonnes of offshore structures will be removed with a target to recycle over 95% of materials. The first phase will remove up to 12 platforms using Allseas’s Pioneering Spirit vessel.
ABL is conducting suitability surveys to validate the proposed marine spread and technical review and approval of decommissioning documentation. Its scope of work will include on-site attendance at all warranted offshore operations to ensure activities are executed safely and in line with approved procedures. Platform removal is scheduled to start in 2027.
Gippsland basin lies in southeastern Australia about 200 km east of Melbourne. Most of the reservoirs contain siliciclastics of the Late Cretaceous to Paleogene Latrobe Group. Remaining reserves are estimated at 400 million bbl of liquids and 6 tcf of gas. Subsea pipelines bring hydrocarbons to onshore processing infrastructure near Longford.
Esso operates assets in Bass Strait which form part of the Gippsland basin joint venture between Esso and Woodside, and the Kipper Unit joint venture of Esso, Woodside, and Mitsui.
Esso Australia is a subsidiary of ExxonMobil Australia Pty Ltd.