Scarborough gas field: NOPSEMA approves Woodside’s project proposal

The Australian National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) has given its approval to the offshore project proposal (OPP) for the Scarborough gas field development filed by Woodside Petroleum.

The Scarborough field, which is contained in the Indian Ocean, offshore Western Australia, contains an estimated contingent resource (2C) dry gas volume of 11.1 trillion cubic feet (Tcf).

Prior to the initial regulatory approval, the Scarborough gas field was assessed of the potential environmental impacts through the life of the project. The OPP for the Scarborough project is a primary environmental assessment document for the gas project in the Commonwealth waters and is the basis for future environmental plans which also require approval from NOPSEMA.

Woodside said that it is working on the future activities, which includes the drilling of the gas wells, installation of the floating production unit, and installation of the associated pipeline.

NOPSEMA gives green signal to Woodside’s OPP for the Scarborough gas project in Australia. Image credit: OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

Peter Coleman – CEO of Woodside said that the acceptance of the OPP by NOPSEMA was a major step forward for the proposed development of the Scarborough gas field, which is now being progressed on a modified schedule owing to the prevailing uncertainty in global investment.

“Although we are now facing challenging market conditions due to the impact of COVID-19 and volatile oil prices, Scarborough is a world-class resource which we plan to develop at a globally competitive cost through our proposed Burrup Hub”, said Peter Coleman.

The Woodside CEO added: “Woodside is continuing work to ensure we have all the necessary regulatory approvals and commercial agreements in place to ensure a final investment decision can be taken for Scarborough in 2021.”

Woodside holds a stake of 73.5% in the Australian gas field while the remainder 26.5% stake is owned by BHP.

The Scarborough gas field is located in the Carnarvon Basin, nearly 375km west-north-west off the Burrup Peninsula. It is part of the Greater Scarborough gas fields alongside the Thebe and Jupiter fields.