Woodside, the Australian energy giant, has received approval from offshore regulators of its revised environment for Angel platform operations located on Commonwealth waters on North West Shelf. This will boost production via a tie-back well.
On Wednesday, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority(NOPSEMA) announced that it had approved a Revision of the Operations Environment Plan for the Angel platform, which Woodside submitted on 22 September 2021.
The Australian giant submitted it as the operator on behalf of the North West Shelf (NWS) projects Joint Venture partners including Woodside, BHP Petroleum (NWS), BP Developments Australia, Chevron Australia, Japan Australia LNG (MIMI) and Shell Australia.
The offshore regulator explained that the environment plan was resubmitted to accountFor the production from a single well tie-back located in the Lambert Deep reservoir. The petroleum activities programme outlined within the revised environment plan includes permit areas: WA-3L, WA-14PLAnd WA-16L.
The scope of this plan entails routine production and associated activities; routine inspection, monitoring, maintenance and repair (IMMR) of the platform and associated subsea infrastructure and well clean up and commissioning. The Angel platform consists of subsea hydrocarbon gathering systems, a riser platform and an export pipeline.
The revised environment plan covers the Angel platform, including the Lamber Deep tie-back, and a number of exploration wells not linked to the production systems. In addition, there are three production wells tied back to the Angel platform via rigid flowlines that are no longer normally producing from the Angel reservoir due to high water content and have been shut-in in late 2020. These are scheduled to be permanently plugged and abandoned.
Following plug and abandonment, the associated subsea infrastructure is planned to be decommissioned, according to the information available within the revised EP.
Also, the Angel topsides processing equipment as well as subsea infrastructure were put into preservation mode after production from these three wells ended. According to Woodsides revised EP Angel topsides processing equipment will be recommissioned for the purpose of the Lambert Deep well (LDA-01).2022 tie-back
In addition, the Lambert Deep reservoir endof field life (EoFL), will be announced in 2027 subject o reservoir performance. The Angel platform is designed for operation 24 hours per day, 365 Days per Year. This EP is intended stay in effect for up to five year from the date that the regulator accepted it.
Located in Commonwealth waters on NWSThe Angel platform operates in Western Australia (WA), in WA-3-L. It’s located approximately 125 km northwest Karratha in Western Australia. This platform is an offshore production platform that is not normally staffed (NNS) and will produce gas from one well tieback located within the Lambert Deep reservoir.
The riser platform is composed of a single processing line that processes the production fluids through cooling, separation and dehydration. After cooling, separation and dehydration, condensate is separated and sent along the 49 km-long export 30-inch pipeline to the destination. North Rankin Complex (NRC)In the first trunkline (1TL), and then onshore to The Karratha Gas Plant (KGP)Processing
To remind, Woodside received approval from NOPSEMA in January 2021 for the Greater Western Flank-3 Development and the Lambert Deep (LD). development, subsea tie-backs to the GWA and Angel facilities.
The energy giant received last week keyapprovals to execute its Scarborough project, which is located off the coast of Western Australia.
Woodside is currently undergoing a merger with BHP. The firm announced in February 2022 a new executive group, which will be leading the new company after the merger. This will allow it to take full advantage energy transition opportunities to foster growth.