Gippsland Basin Decommissioning Campaign #1 Steel Piled Jackets End State Environment Plan

Overview

NOPSEMA is facilitating a voluntary public comment process for Esso Australia’s Gippsland Basin Decommissioning Environment Plan

For details of this EP including published documents

Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd (Esso) is the operator of joint ventures for the exploration, development and production of oil and gas from Bass Strait, Victoria. Esso has been producing oil and gas in Bass Strait since 1969 and in this time has supplied over 50 percent of Australia’s crude oil and liquids and over 40 percent of all of Eastern Australia’s natural gas, hence contributing significantly to the national economy and supporting growth in industry and employment. Although the Bass Strait production network has been producing energy for more than 50 years, it remains today the largest single source of gas supply to the Australian east coast domestic market, and has the potential to continue supplying one third of south east Australia’s domestic gas demand through to the end of this decade.

After delivering energy to Australia for over 50 years, many of the Bass Strait fields are now reaching the end of their productive life. Esso is well underway in the planning and preparation of non-producing platforms for the first Bass Strait decommissioning campaign (Campaign #1), to commence in 2027.
While we are currently undertaking activities to decommission some of our non-producing facilities, there will be further decommissioning works required in future, including the eventual decommissioning of facilities that today are still delivering much-needed gas to Australia.

The activities described in this EP relate to the proposed decommissioning ‘end states’ for the Campaign #1 Steel Piled Jacket (SPJ) platforms in Bass Strait, where an end state is proposed that is different to the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 (Cmth) (OPGGS Act) Section 572 (3) requirement for complete removal of all property. The EP relates to Steel Piled Jacket (SPJ) platforms only. EPs for two other infrastructure groups (pipelines/umbilicals and Concrete Gravity Structure platforms) will be submitted separately at a later date.

The scope of this EP includes the following Campaign #1 SPJs:
• Halibut (HLA)
• Fortescue (FTA)
• Cobia (CBA)
• Mackerel (MKA)
• Kingfish A (KFA)
• Kingfish B (KFB)
• West Kingfish (WKF)
• Flounder (FLA)
• Bream A (BMA)
• Whiting (WTA)

These SPJs are located in Bass Strait between 33 and 77km off the east coast of Victoria.

The execution activities required to achieve these end states (i.e. cutting, lifting and removal of sections of SPJs for either onshore disposal or seabed placement and removal of topsides for onshore disposal) are not within the scope of this EP and are subject to a future Campaign #1 SPJs – End State Execution EP submission. Hence there are no execution, or in the field ‘activities’ within the scope of this EP.

For more information on Esso Australia’s decommissioning program visit Esso Australia website, which also includes a sumarry of the EP.

Location Map

Providing your comment

The public comment process provides an opportunity for community members to have their say on environmental management aspects of proposed oil and gas activites. To make a submission click on the link below.

If your comments contain sensitive information or if you are unable to use this platform for any reason please refer to our Public comment on environment plans brochure for alternative options to have your say.

Please be aware that information that is irrelevant to NOPSEMA’s decision making criteria cannot be considered, such as statements of fundamental objection to oil and gas activity, comments that contain personal threats or profanities, SPAM mail, comments made through online social media channels, petitions and comments that pose questions to NOPSEMA and or/the titleholder. NOPSEMA takes threats of a personal nature seriously and will consider legal action should the public comment process be misused to make personal threats to any NOPSEMA employee.