The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) has approved Santos’ environment plan for drilling and completing the Halyard-2 production well. This well is located in the Greater East Spar (GES) field in Commonwealth waters, within the WA-13-L and WA-45-L production licenses.
Santos, the operator of the John Brookes, Spartan, and GES gas fields off the northwest coast of Western Australia, will connect the new well to the Varanus Island (VI) oil and gas hub. The production fluids from these fields are transported to the Varanus Island hub through subsea pipelines. The environmental plan for this hub was initially approved in September 2014.
Santos revised its environmental plan (EP) to include the commissioning and operation of the Halyard-2 well. This new well will replace the Halyard-1 well, ensuring a continuous gas supply to the Varanus Island Hub. The commissioning process will involve pressurizing the GES system, operating the East Spar pipeline and subsea valves, and priming subsea infrastructure. It will also include the displacement of treated seawater from the Halyard-2 tie-in spool at Varanus Island.
Santos plans to connect the Halyard-2 well to the Varanus Island Hub in the first quarter of 2025. The operator has stated that there are no new or increased environmental risks linked to the commissioning or operation of the new well.
The environmental impacts and risks associated with drilling and installation activities were already addressed in the approved Halyard-2 drilling and completion plan. These activities are scheduled to take place between the second quarter of 2024 and the end of 2026 in the Carnarvon Basin, located about 100 kilometers north of Onslow.
In November 2023, Santos awarded McDermott an engineering, procurement, removal, and disposal contract for the full decommissioning of the Campbell platform, part of the Varanus Island Hub infrastructure. After completing this decommissioning work, McDermott secured another contract from Santos to decommission the Harriet Alpha platform and related infrastructure in Western Australia.
Santos is also involved in other major energy projects, including the Barossa gas project off the Northern Territory. The Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) had challenged the development of this project in court. However, the Federal Court of Australia ruled in favor of Santos and ordered the EDO to cover the legal costs.
“The primary goal of the ‘Stop Barossa Gas’ campaign was to disrupt, delay, and potentially shut down the Barossa Gas Project, which would have caused economic harm to both the Barossa JV partners and participants in the Darwin LNG JV,” Santos emphasized.
The Barossa gas project and its associated Darwin LNG life extension are expected to create 600 jobs during construction and secure around 350 jobs for the next 20 years at the Darwin LNG facility. The Northern Territory government estimates that the projects will generate approximately A$2.5 billion (almost $1.6 billion) in wages and contracts for the local economy.
BW Offshore’s floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel is set to begin work on the Barossa gas project in 2025. The Norwegian company recently disclosed an additional cost of up to $150 million to complete the remaining FPSO work.
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