NOPSEMA has approved Beach Energy’s plans to undertake drilling and plug-and-abandon activities in the Otway and Bass Basins.
The proposed scope of work covers drilling of up to five wells in Otway, and plugging, abandonment and removal of well infrastructure above the mudline for five legacy wells.
Drilling is expected to take roughly 30–40 days per well, while abandonment activities are expected to take roughly 15–20 days per well.
Proposed activities will be undertaken with a single moored semi-submersible drill rig with a thruster assisted mooring system. The drill rig will be supported with up to three vessels.
The company recently celebrated a successful quarter, producing five million barrels of oil equivalent for the period. This was partly powered by a 22 per cent increase in Bass Basin production.
Beach also made strides at its Moomba carbon capture and storage (CCS) project.
“Commissioning of the Moomba CCS project was an important milestone for both Beach and Australia’s emissions reduction journey,” Woods said.
“The project has capacity to inject and store all vented reservoir CO2 from the Moomba Gas Plant. This puts Beach on track to achieve its 2030 emissions intensity reduction target of 35 per cent.”
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