Page 11 - AsianOil Week 10 2021

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Australian decommissioning in focus

PROJECTS & NATIONAL Energy Resources Australia CODA will bring together upstream heav-
COMPANIES (NERA) has announced a new collaborative yweights such as Chevron, Woodside and San-
effort by the upstream industry to tackle a costly tos as well as service providers and research
wave of decommissioning projects that is on the institutions.
horizon. WA Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill John-
The industry-led body said on March 10 ston said: “Western Australia is already a global
that the Centre of Decommissioning Australia hub for the oil and gas sector, accounting for 60%
(CODA), which will be based in Perth, would of Australia’s LNG exports in 2019, and now has
help to “address the challenges and maximise the potential to be a world-leading centre for
the opportunities” associated with decommis- decommissioning.
sioning Australia’s end-of-life upstream assets. Upstream industry body Australian Petro-
Highlighting a new report by consultancy leum Production & Exploration Association
Advisian, which NERA commissioned, the (APPEA) welcomed CODA’s launch, with CEO
body said there was AUD50bn ($38.9bn) worth Andrew McConville saying: “As oil and gas
of decommissioning projects set to be sanc- structures come to the end of their lifespans, the
tioned over the next 50 years. Advisian, which is industry is committed to responsibly managing
a division of Worley, said more than half of that its infrastructure in a way that maximises the
figure would need to be actioned within the next ecological, social and economic opportunities
decade. for regional communities across Australia. With
NERA CEO Miranda Taylor said: “We are the right policy settings, the opportunities are
looking at AUD50bn of work over the next 50 significant.”
years, so decommissioning represents a mul- He added: “The Centre of Decommissioning
ti-generational challenge for Australia. CODA Australia will provide credible, evidence-based
will play a critical role in transforming our research which will support and complement
approach to late-life planning and decommis- APPEA’s decommissioning policy development
sioning to maximise the value for Australia.” and advocacy.”™

NZOG relinquishes last New

Zealand exploration asset

PROJECTS & INDEPENDENT developer New Zealand Oil decision would drive it to look for new opportu-
COMPANIES & Gas (NZOG) intends to relinquish the last of nities overseas.
its exploration assets in the Australasian coun- NZOG and Australian partner Beach Energy
try, underscoring the precarious future of New applied in February to relinquish PEP 52717 (Clip-
Zealand’s upstream. per), which contains the Barque prospect. Clipper
The company said on March 10 that it had is located in the offshore Canterbury Basin. Jefferies
applied to relinquish Petroleum Exploration said at the time that he did not think Clipper would
Permit (PEP) 55794 (Toroa), which lies in the be the last offshore acreage to be relinquished.
offshore Great South Basin and contains the Beach decided not to drill the deepwater
Kaipatiki prospect. NZOG operates the licence Wherry-1 exploration well in PEP3864, which
with a 100% interest. led it to abandon all three of its exploration per-
NZOG CEO Andrew Jefferies said: “PEP mits in the offshore Canterbury Basin.
55794 is the last of our New Zealand explora- Jefferies said this week that his company had
tion permits. The same confluence of events that “exhausted all avenues” to find a partner willing
led us to relinquish our Clipper permit: adverse to drill in the Toroa acreage and had therefore
regulatory settings for offshore exploration; the opted to relinquish it.
dry hole at OMV’s Tawhaki permit; the recent He added: “I am disappointed that we were una-
announcement terminating Wherry-1 drilling; ble to deliver an outcome that would have econom-
and the effects of COVID on drill rig costs and ically benefited the people of Otago and Southland,
availability have caught the Toroa permit in the discovering the North Sea of the South.”
same perfect storm.” The executive noted that the company
NZOG has been an outspoken critic of the remained active in New Zealand’s Kupe gas field
government’s ban in April 2018 on new offshore in Taranaki, where the company aims to launch
exploration permits, noting at the time that the its compression project later this year.™

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