Esso Australia, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil Australia, has entered into a multi-year agreement with DOF Subsea to charter a Multi-Purpose Supply Vessel for the support of its decommissioning activities in Bass Strait.

Dylan Pugh, ExxonMobile Australia Chair, said that the subsidiary is committed to safely decommissioning the Bass Strait offshore facilities and over the last few years has completed around US$600mn of early decommissioning works in the strait, including removing the Seahorse and Tarwhine facilities, completing P&A activities on Blackback and Whiting wells, and making significant progress on Kingfish B and Mackerel.

“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,” Pugh commented.

The DOF Subsea vessel is expected to arrive in Bass Strait in the middle of 2022 where it will support early decommissioning works on the Perch and Dolphin facilities before moving onto other topside and subsea work scopes.

Pugh added, “We continue to assess new projects in Bass Strait with the aim of extending our production of Gippsland gas into the next decade.”

“Just last year we commissioned West Barracouta, one of the largest domestic gas projects this decade. As it showed, there is still potential left in Bass Strait and we are working hard to unlock its full value so we can continue to deliver the gas Australians need.”