Please note this revision to the environment plan has been withdrawn at the request of the titleholder.
Santos NA Barossa Pty Ltd, and its Joint Venture Partners SK E&S Australia Pty Ltd and Santos Offshore Pty Ltd propose to develop the Barossa Gas Field, which is located in Commonwealth Waters approximately 300 km north-west of Darwin. The development includes bringing gas and condensate from subsea wells to a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility via a network of subsea flowlines and risers. Initial processing would occur on the FPSO to separate the gas, water and condensate. The condensate would be transferred from the FPSO to specialised tankers for export. The resulting dry gas would be sent to Darwin via a new ~285 km pipeline connected to the existing Bayu-Darwin pipeline, laid within existing petroleum permits NT/L1 and NT/PL5. The water depth along the pipeline route varies from 33 m to 254 m.
The Barossa Project is fully described in the Barossa Area Development Offshore Project Proposal (OPP), which was accepted by NOPSEMA in March 2018. This Barossa Gas Export Pipeline Installation Environment Plan is one of a number of Environment Plans that will be developed under the Barossa Area OPP.
The original Environment Plan accepted 09 March 2020 specifically addressed installation of the gas export pipeline, laid in a north-south orientation from the Barossa gas field to a proposed tie-in location on the existing Bayu-Undan pipeline (~100 km west-north-west of Darwin). Installation activities included:
• pre and post lay surveys;
• pre and post lay span rectification;
• installation of the gas export pipeline and end terminals; and
• pipeline pre-conditioning activities.
On 09 December 2021 a revised Environment Plan was submitted to address a new stage of the gas export pipeline; representing a ~23-km extension to the original gas export pipeline in Commonwealth waters and the installation of an additional pipeline end termination (PLET) at the southern end of the original Barossa stage. The extension to the Barossa gas export pipeline will be laid parallel to the existing Bayu-Undan pipeline. In addition to the installation activities above, the revision also included a pipeline preservation phase and ongoing inspection, maintenance and repair activities (IMR).
The exact pipeline installation schedule has not been finalised, however, infield installation activities are expected to take approximately 12 months, within a window between quarter 4, 2022 and quarter 4, 2024. The installation schedule is indicative only with exact timing and duration subject to a number of factors such as vessel availability, weather and sea state. Santos NA Barossa Pty Ltd will maintain contact with relevant stakeholders to ensure they are informed of installation timelines as the schedule is confirmed.
