West Barracouta – 50 years in the making
Daniel Chigwidden A * and Matthew Felgate AA Esso Australia, L9 664 Collins Street, Docklands, Vic. 3008, Australia.
The APPEA Journal 62 S406-S410 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ21117
Accepted: 9 March 2022 Published: 13 May 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of APPEA.
Abstract
This paper presents a case study on the value of combining existing ideas with new data to evaluate and determine the most effective way to extend the producing life of one of the first offshore gas discoveries in the Gippsland Basin. The holistic work approach resulted in the development of West Barracouta Top Latrobe gas by two dual-zone, subsea intelligent wells with sand control, tied back to an operating pipeline to minimise brownfields interface. Located in the Gippsland Basin, the Barracouta gas field was Australia’s first discovery, by the first offshore well, and soon after the first operating offshore facility. After more than 50 years of oil and gas production, new data gives further insight to support continuous improvement in reservoir management to optimise the resource to end of field life. Originally discovered in 1969, West Barracouta is separated from the main field by a fault-induced saddle point that left a substantial volume without an active completion. With the Gippsland legacy gas fields declining, the West Barracouta development is well timed to supply the Australian East Coast gas market with one of the last remaining low-CO2 gas sources and ensure additional security of supply. Incorporating reprocessed seismic data into the workflow delivered improved confidence in field definition, providing a foundation for a technology-driven development plan. This paper addresses the technical workflow that was implemented to support a fast-paced subsea development, robust against the range of possible geological scenarios.
Keywords: development, gas market, geoscience, Gippsland, intelligent wells, offshore, reservoir, subsea.
Daniel Chigwidden joined ExxonMobil in 2018 and works as a Reservoir Engineer in the Australian Reservoir and Development Planning team. Daniel studied Petroleum and Chemical Engineering, graduating from The University of Adelaide in 2009. He is an active committee member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) with 12 years’ experience in onshore and offshore production, field development planning, reserves assessment and reservoir simulation. Prior to joining ExxonMobil, Daniel worked in various Reservoir Engineering roles for Woodside Energy and Lochard Energy. |
Matt Felgate graduated from the University of Durham with a degree in Geology in 2009, he followed that with attaining a PhD in Isotope Geochemistry from the University of Melbourne in 2014. Following his studies Matt joined ExxonMobil as a geoscientist in 2015. He initially worked on a range of exploration, development projects within the PNG Western Fold Belt, then moved into a production role on the major gas fields within the Gippsland Basin. He currently supports ongoing reservoir management of the Snapper and Barracouta fields. |
