Activity details

Organisation	Santos WA Southwest Pty Limited
Project	Varanus Island Hub
Activity types	Construction and installation of a pipeline Operation of a petroleum pipeline Drilling
In-force EP	6896
Submission date	25 January, 2022
Outcome	Accepted
Acceptance date	30 June, 2022
Locations	Pilbara
Start date	16 March, 2023
Stop date	31 May, 2023
Lifecycle Classification	Operation & Production

Please note: activity start and stop dates are based on notifications provided by the titleholder.

Titleholder contact

Activity Description

The Varanus Island (VI) Hub in Commonwealth Waters consists of the John Brookes, Spartan and Greater East Spar (GES) gas fields in offshore Commonwealth waters on the North West Shelf of Western Australia. Production fluids from these fields are transported by subsea pipelines to the VI oil and gas hub (VI Hub) located in State waters. The operation of the VI Hub in Commonwealth waters has been managed under the Varanus Island Hub Operations Environment Plan for Commonwealth Waters (John Brookes, Greater East Spar and Associated Facilities) (EA-66-RI-10003) accepted by the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) on 11 September 2014. The EP was revised (five yearly revision) in August 2019 in accordance with Regulation 19 of the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Environment) Regulations 2009 (OPGGS(E)R 2009) and accepted by NOPSEMA in July 2020. This revision is made in accordance with Regulation 17(5) of the OPGGS (E) Regulations (2009) and incorporates the commissioning and operations associated with the single well Spartan gas field that will be tied back to the John Brookes wellhead platform (WHP) via a single flexible flowline and umbilical. The environmental impacts and risks associated with the development drilling and installation activities associated with the Spartan gas field are addressed in the Spartan Development Addendum (EA-60-RI-10003.02). The Spartan Development activities covered in the Spartan Addendum consist of drilling the Spartan Development well, installation of subsea equipment and pre-commissioning activities to connect the new well to the existing John Brookes Wellhead Platform via a new flexible subsea flowline. The Spartan Development well will be drilled in production licence WA-63-L. The Spartan Development activities are planned to commence in Q3 2022. Drilling activities are expected to take approximately 42 days and subsea installation and pre-commissioning activities approximately 25 days. Summary - Activities and approximate timing: Drilling and completion: commence Q3 2022, 42 days duration Subsea installation and pre-commissioning: commence Q3/Q4 2022, 25 days duration Topsides activities and commissioning (Undertaken under the VI Hub Operations EP): commenced Q4 2021

Location map (click to enlarge)

Accepted EP Documents

EP Document	A850917 (49.7 MB)
OPEP Document	A842030 (10.4 MB)
Appendices	A850910 (30.3 MB)

Related EP assessments

7667 (Click to view)

6896 (Click to view)

4947 (Click to view)