Esso Australia, a subsidiary of oil and gas supermajor ExxonMobil, has announced that it started a technical tender process for the decommissioning of several of its facilities in Bass Strait.
Exxon said that the technical tender would outline approaches to undertaking platform removal activities in Bass Strait.
“Technical tender is an important step in preparing for the eventual decommissioning of several Bass Strait facilities that are to cease production in the near future,” the company explained.
Exxon is requesting technical submissions from several experienced offshore heavy lift contractors for this initial tender phase, who will each outline how they propose to undertake the platform removal activities required.
“Given the complexity of decommissioning offshore facilities, we expect each vendor will propose a unique approach to platform removal in Bass Strait, based on their capabilities and experience.
“We will then consider all the options presented, ensuring they meet our own, community and regulator expectations, before moving onto the final commercial tender process next year,” said ExxonMobil Australia Chair, Dylan Pugh.
Over the last few years, Esso Australia – operator of the Gippsland Basin Joint Venture – has 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.
“As the operator of some of Australia’s most mature oil and gas fields, Esso Australia is committed to safely and responsibly decommissioning our Bass Strait offshore facilities.
“As we continue to progress these important early decommissioning works, this technical tender is an important step in preparing for the eventual decommissioning of a number of our facilities that are to cease production in the near future,” said Pugh.
It is worth noting that the ExxonMobil Australia group has been operating in Australia since 1895. ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso Australia operates the Gippsland Basin Joint Venture on behalf of a 50-50 joint venture with BHP Petroleum and Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd.
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