Beach Energy (Operations) Limited (Beach), proposes to drill up to six development wells and abandon three existing subsea wells in Commonwealth waters of the Otway Basin. The development well closest to shore is approximately 54 km from Port Campbell off Victoria’s south-west coast. The proposed development wells and existing subsea wells for abandonment are in water depths ranging from approximately 84 m to 105 m.

Development drilling and well abandonment activities are proposed to be undertaken by a semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU). The Ocean Onyx is currently proposed to undertake this activity. The Ocean Onyx is a conventionally moored, non-self-propelled, column-stabilised semi-submersible MODU owned and operated by the Diamond Offshore General Company (Diamond Offshore).

The operational area for the drilling program has been defined as a 2 km radius around the well sites whilst the drill rig is moored on location. The 2 km radius encompasses both the outer extent of mooring equipment on the seabed, and the 500 m rig safety exclusion zone (RSEZ).

The Otway Development Drilling and Well Abandonment Program will commence at a date to be determined which will be after 1 January 2021 and will be completed before 31 October 2022. The program will take up to 22 months. Drilling, completion and well testing is expected to take between 64 to 90 days per well, depending on the final work program and potential operational delays. Well abandonment activities are estimated to take approximately 30 days per well.

Drilling and support operations will be conducted on a 24-hour basis for the duration of the program.
The activities included in this EP are: Drilling activities including MODU operations and any pre-lay anchoring operations; routine support activities such as vessel operations, helicopter operations and ROV operations; and emergency response activities.