ExxonMobil books DOF vessel for Gippsland basin decommissioning

Offshore staff

MELBOURNE, Australia – Esso Australia, as operator of the Gippsland basin joint venture, has entered an agreement with DOF Subsea to charter a multi-purpose supply vessel to support decommissioning work in Bass Strait offshore southeast Australia.

ExxonMobil Australia chair Dylan Pugh, said:  “Over the last few years, we have completed around $600 million of early decommissioning works in Bass Strait, including successfully removing the Seahorse and Tarwhine facilities, completing plug and abandonment activities on our Blackback and Whiting wells, and significantly progressing well decommissioning activities on Kingfish B and Mackerel.” Pugh continued: “As we continue to progress these important, early decommissioning works, we are also planning for the eventual decommissioning of our facilities that are to cease production in the near future.” The vessel should arrive in Bass Strait towards the middle of 2022, initially supporting early decommissioning activities on the Perch and Dolphin facilities, before moving onto other topside/subsea work scopes. It will be equipped with an ROV, a heave-compensated subsea crane, and a walk-to-work gangway system that will allow crews to transfer from the vessel to the offshore facilities. Pugh added that Esso Australia continues to assess new projects in Bass Strait, with a view to extending production of Gippsland gas into the next decade. Last year, the company commissioned the new West Barracouta gas project.

 2/22/2022