Overcoming COVID challenges in project execution – West Barracouta
John Kubik A , Grant Shaw A and Melissa Vicario A *A Esso Australia, L9 664 Collins Street, Docklands, Vic. 3008, Australia.
The APPEA Journal 62 S295-S298 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ21153
Accepted: 25 February 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 (GBJV), 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 GBJV 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 successfully navigated through engineering, fabrication, testing, mobilisation of an international team and installation of the facilities in a COVID environment. The paper shares insights on how to: manage fabrication impacts with closures and restricted workhours to minimise disruption to the project; complete videoconference Hazid Identification Risk Assessment workshops across different geographical locations; develop and execute methodology for distributed component integrated testing with hardware located in different geographical locations; complete remote inspections, Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT)/verification using videoconference; complete enhanced familiarisation and testing activities at shorebase, prior to offshore installation, given restrictions in overseas travel/access to FAT locations; and safely manage installation personnel to ensure continuity of activities in a COVID environment, e.g. platform, installation vessel and diver COVID requirements.
Keywords: fabrication, Factory Acceptance Test, Gippsland, inspection, installation, restricted work, risk management, subsea facilities, testing.
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, 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. |
