As with Quadrant Energy at nearby Varanus Island, which is bringing facilities around Airlie Island to the end of their lives, Chevron is planning to bring in a jack-up in to plug 22 wells across five fields and the undeveloped Australind-1 exploration well, drilled by WAPET in 1993.

The production wells are shut-in and will be plugged and abandoned, while the nine platforms will be left in place, to be removed at a later date.

The nine-month well abandonment program will involve removing the suspension caps from the wells and then setting and testing two mechanical plugs, before removing the Christmas tree from the platforms.

Each of the wellheads will have a blow-out preventer installed for pressure testing.

Once the BOP is installed, the upper tubing plug will be removed from the well and weighted brine will be circulated throughout the wellbore before the wells will be cemented and the BOP stack removed.

The casing strings will then be cut and either removed, or left for removal when the platforms are finally disposed of.

The assets include the three Saladin platforms in 12-18m of water and six monopods associated with the Roller, Skate, Yammaderry and Cowie are all monopod structures in 9-16m of water.

The onshore decommissioning scope of work, including includes removing all facilities including roads, footings and pathways was approved previously.

The program will be supported by the Port of Dampier and Barrow Island.

Production at Thevenard Island ceased in January 2014 after starting up in 1989.

A tourism business will continue to operate on the island.