Woodside is undertaking plug and abandonment activities for subsea wells in its Minerva gas field.
The plug and abandonment activities will occur within Commonwealth waters approximately 8km south of Port Campbell, Victoria. The activities are part of the decommissioning of the Minerva gas field, and are aimed at permanently sealing the wells to prevent release of hydrocarbons to the environment.
The Minerva-1 exploration well and Minerva-2A appraisal well were drilled in 1993 and subsequently suspended. The Minerva-3 and Minerva-4 production wells were drilled in 2002 and produced gas via a subsea pipeline to the onshore Minerva gas plant. Production ceased from Minerva-3 and Minerva-4 in 2019, after which the production wells were shut in and isolated from the subsea pipeline.
Woodside plans to conduct abandonment activites using a moored semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit, which will be supported by vessels. Subsea structures will be removed and the wellheads will be cut and removed below the mudline.
These activities are expected to require between 44 and 160 days to complete, subject to weather and other operational factors.
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