The work under the EP will start on 4 February 2024, reported NOPSEMA. The scope of the EP is the continued operation, inspection, maintenance, and repair of the offshore assets associated with the Otway Gas Development.

The Otway offshore project is owned by a joint venture between Beach, the operator with a 60% interest, and OG Energy, a subsidiary of Ofer Global group, holding the remaining 40%.

Development of the gas fields commenced in 2004 by Woodside under a joint venture arrangement, with the first production in mid-2007.

The offshore development consists of offshore and onshore infrastructure for commercialising gas and liquids in the Geographe and Thylacine fields off the coast of Victoria.

The Geographe field is about 55 kilometres to the south of Port Campbell, and the Thylacine field is located a further 15 kilometres south of the Geographe field.

The production wells at the Geographe and Thylacine locations have all been drilled, completed and tied back to existing infrastructure under separate EPs. The Thylacine subsea wells have been commissioned, and testing will be performed before gas enters the system.

Beach gets approvals for seabed surveys

Earlier this week, the company was given the green light to carry out geophysical and geotechnical seabed surveys for the Offshore Gas Victoria project within the Otway and Bass Basins in Commonwealth waters.

The proposed seabed surveys are required to inform the plug and abandonment activities of existing legacy suspended wells, drilling of subsea gas wells and potential tie-ins to connect new gas wells to existing subsea infrastructure,

The oil and gas company said the project would operate in the offshore Otway and Bass basins through different activities across several phases, including seabed assessments, removal of up to five suspended wells, drilling three to eight exploration and appraisal wells and completing and connecting wells.

The surveys will be carried out between the beginning of February 2024 and the end of December 2028.