Beach gears up for offshore dive

BEACH Energy has lodged a 433-page draft environment plan (EP) to tie-in four new gas production wells in the Otway Basin.

Submitted to the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) in late November, the plan includes installation of subsea equipment that will link the wells to an existing pipeline that connects to the onshore Otway Gas Plant.

The company has stated that once connected the new resource would not be exported overseas, but would instead boost its supply of the commodity to the east coast gas market from approximately 13 per cent now, to more than 20 per cent.

The wells are located around 70 kilometres south of Port Campbell in Commonwealth waters at a depth of 100 metres, and sit in an area known as the Thylacine field, and will be linked to gas already being pumped from its operations in the nearer to shore Geographe field.

They’re the result of an 18-month seven-well drill campaign that wrapped up in mid-2022, a project the company described as the biggest ever to be conducted in the region and the only one in Australia conducted continuously through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The drilling campaign saw outstanding safety and environmental compliance, positive engagement with the commercial fishing sector and minimal disruption to their activities,” it stated.

The company has already announced to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) that it expects the wells to start feeding gas by mid-2023, along with another well called Enterprise that’s located in state waters and was accessed from onshore via a process known as extended reach drilling.

Beach Energy also announced recently it’s looking to scale up its plans to bury carbon beneath the Otway Basin sea floor, stating that if successful the project could capture an amount greater than the combined emissions it generates from its activities in the region.

The company announced it had completed a pre-feasibility study on carbon capture and storage (CCS) adjacent to its Otway Basin operations and is now moving into the assess/select phase.

“The next phase will refine the pre-feasibility study, focusing specifically on storage capacity, reservoir selection, injectability, integration and environmental approvals,” Beach stated.

That phase of the project is similarly estimated for completion in mid-2023.

The company has set itself a goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050, and stated it “views CCS as a key component to achieve this target.”

The federal Greens have said they’ll push forward with a bill seeking to stop new oil and gas projects from going ahead, and expect it will be introduced to the Senate in the new year.