Unlocking Gippsland reserves with a minimum kit solution – West Barracouta
John Kubik A , Grant Shaw A and Melissa Vicario A *A ExxonMobil, L9 664 Collins Street, Docklands, Vic. 3008, Australia.
The APPEA Journal 62 S137-S141 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ21143
Accepted: 7 March 2022 Published: 13 May 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of APPEA.
Abstract
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).
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. |
Grant Shaw graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2008 with double degree in Chemical Engineering (honours – H1) and Science. He has worked for ExxonMobil since his graduation in technical and project roles across both the ExxonMobil’s production and projects organisations. He has experience within Esso Australia Upstream and also the Australian Midstream business. He was the Subsea Production System Lead for the West Barracouta project, and currently is in an Execution Lead role within the projects organisation. |
Melissa Vicario graduated from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 1999 with a honours degree in Civil Engineering and Business Administration. She has worked for ExxonMobil since her graduation in various technical, project and management roles across both the ExxonMobil’s production and projects organisations. The majority of her experience has been in Australia, Indonesia, Angola, Qatar and Iraq. She was the Facilities and Start-up Lead for the West Barracouta project, and is currently the Project Engineer for ExxonMobil Papua New Guinea’s Angore Project. |
