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Journal of Australian Energy Producers
 

Concurrent 10. Presentation for: Unlocking Gippsland reserves with a minimum kit solution – West Barracouta

John Kubik A *
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A ExxonMobil, L9 664 Collins Street, Docklands, Vic. 3008, Australia.

* Correspondence to: john.m.kubik@exxonmobil.com

The APPEA Journal 62 - https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ21333
Published: 3 June 2022

Abstract

Presented on Wednesday 18 May: Session 10

The West Barracouta (BTW), field one of the largest proven undeveloped gas fields off the south-eastern Australian coast, commenced production in April 2021. The project was developed by Esso-BHP Gippsland Basin Joint Venture (JV), a 50–50 JV between ExxonMobil’s subsidiary Esso Australia and BHP Petroleum. The BTW gas field is situated ~6 km south west of the existing Barracouta gas field and platform, the first Gippsland Basin Joint Venture platform in Bass Strait. The BTW development involved drilling two subsea production wells, installation of umbilical controls from the existing platform and installation of a ~6 km subsea flowline to connect to existing gas pipeline via a hot tap. The BTW team will share insights on how it: (1) utilised minimum kit solution and verification of existing asset condition; subsea hot tap into operational gas pipeline and re-use of existing platform J-tube to minimise works on and around the Barracouta Platform (including diving work). (2) Managed an Operator first – co-mingled wet gas subsea pipelines while operating in hydrate regions; via detailed water detection metre/software solution, downhole zone isolation and systematic operating guidelines. (3) Leveraged Installation Contractor competitive Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) enabling optimisation of facilities design/execution strategies to align with strengths and maximise overall project value. (4) Leveraged the OneSubsea/Subsea 7 Subsea Integration Alliance and global worldwide network to execute the subsea design (including qualification), manufacture and installation. (5) Utilised the incumbent Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor to integrate the subsea and topsides control systems to support a single operation system linked to the existing to Distributed Control System (DCS).

To access the presentation click the link on the right. To read the full paper click here

Keywords: brownfield risk mitigation, competitive FEED, construction, contract optimisation, design optimisation, flow assurance, Gippsland, subsea facilities.

John Kubik graduated from the University of Queensland in 1997 with an honours degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. He has worked for ExxonMobil since his graduation in various technical, project and management roles across both the ExxonMobil’s production and projects organisations. The majority of his experience has been in Australia, the United States and Qatar. He was the Engineering Manager and Subsea Controls Lead for the West Barracouta project, and currently provides technical support for Esso Australia’s subsea installations.