Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd (Esso), a wholly owned subsidiary of ExxonMobil Australia Pty Ltd, is the operator for the Gippsland Basin Joint Venture (Esso and BHP Billiton Petroleum (Bass Strait) Pty Ltd (BHP)) and the Kipper Unit Joint Venture (Esso, BHP, and MEPAU A Pty Ltd). In 1965, the Esso/BHP joint venture under the GBJV operating agreement drilled Australia's first offshore well and discovered the Barracouta gas field in Bass Strait. Two years later Kingfish was discovered, the first offshore oil field, which to this day remains the largest oil field ever discovered in Australia. Since establishment, the Bass Strait operations have produced over 50% of Australia’s crude oil and liquids production and supplied over 40% of all Eastern Australia’s natural gas consumption.
In connection with these joint ventures, the infrastructure includes 19 platforms, 5 subsea facilities (including the planned BTW Subsea Facility), and a network of subsea pipelines. These facilities are located in Bass Strait between 20 and 90km off the east coast of Victoria.
The offshore activities in Bass Strait are supported by up to 350 people who live and work offshore at any one time. They are supported by many more onshore, who process the oil and gas at our plants at Longford and Long Island Point before sending to customers. Platform operations are also supported by helicopters and supply vessels. The helicopter fleet operates regular flights to transfer personnel to and from platforms, and supply vessels, moving between platforms to load and unload cargo.
This Environment Plan (EP) is applicable to the operation and ongoing maintenance of all oil and gas production facilities in Bass Strait. Activities included in the scope of this Environment Plan are platform, pipeline and subsea operations, support operations (including vessels and helicopters), inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) of equipment and facilities and wellwork activities. Operation and maintenance of the facilities is an ongoing, 24hr, 365 days per year, operation and the proposed Environmental Plan is intended to be applicable for the next 5 years.
This Environment Plan assesses the impacts of the operations to the environment including ecological, economic, cultural and social impacts. It also assesses the risk of unplanned events and their potential impact on the environment should they occur, such as spills and vessel related incidents.