NOTE: The EP has been withdrawn at the request of the Titleholder.

Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd (Esso) is the operator of joint ventures for the exploration, development and production of oil and gas from Bass Strait, Victoria. Esso has been producing oil and gas in Bass Strait since 1969, contributing significantly to the national economy and supporting growth in industry and employment.
Although the Bass Strait production network has been producing energy for more than 50 years, it remains today the largest single source of gas supply to the Australian east coast domestic market, and has the potential to continue supplying one third of south east Australia’s domestic gas demand through to the end of this decade.
After delivering energy to Australia for over 50 years, many of the Bass Strait fields are now reaching the end of their productive life. Esso is well underway in the planning and preparation of non-producing (and soon to be non-producing) platforms for the first Bass Strait decommissioning campaign (Campaign #1), with topsides dismantling to commence as soon as practicable and not later than 2027, in accordance with General Direction #817.
While we are currently undertaking activities to decommission some of our non-producing (and soon to be non-producing) facilities, there will be further decommissioning works required in future, including the eventual decommissioning of facilities that today are still delivering much-needed gas to Australia.
The activities described in this EP relate to the proposed decommissioning ‘end states’ for the Campaign #1 Steel Piled Jacket (SPJ) platforms in Bass Strait where, following an Options Assessment, an end state is proposed that is different to the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 (Cmth) (OPGGS Act) Section 572 (3) requirement for complete removal of all property. The EP relates to Steel Piled Jacket (SPJ) platforms only. EPs for other infrastructure groups (i.e pipelines/umbilicals and Concrete Gravity Structure platforms) will be submitted (as required)at a later date.

The scope of this EP includes the following Campaign #1 SPJs:
• Halibut (HLA)
• Fortescue (FTA)
• Cobia (CBA)
• Mackerel (MKA)
• Kingfish A (KFA)
• Kingfish B (KFB)
• West Kingfish (WKF)
• Flounder (FLA)
• Bream A (BMA)
• Whiting (WTA)
These SPJs are located in Bass Strait between 33 and 77km off the east coast of Victoria.
The execution activities required to achieve these end states (i.e. cutting, lifting and removal of sections of SPJs for either onshore disposal or seabed placement and removal of topsides for onshore disposal) are not within the scope of this EP and are subject to a future Campaign #1– End State Execution EP/s which will be submitted at a later date. Hence there are no execution, or in the field ‘activities’ within the scope of this EP.