Register      Login
Australian Energy Producers Journal Australian Energy Producers Journal Society
Journal of Australian Energy Producers
 

Strengthening HSE and Performance Visual Presentation H1: Environmental benefits of leaving steel-piled jacket platforms in place

Sheela Veluayitham A *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Esso Australia Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Vic., Australia.


The APPEA Journal 63 - https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ22441
Published: 2 June 2023

Abstract

Visual Presentation H1

With many of the Bass Strait reservoirs having reached the end of their productive life, Esso has been planning and preparing for the decommissioning of facilities including the currently non-producing steel-piled jacket platforms (platforms). Given many of these platforms have been in place for several decades, it is important to understand the ecosystem that has established around them to ensure that the environmental impacts and risks of decommissioning are appropriately assessed. Esso undertook an offshore environmental survey in 2021 using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to collect visual imagery of the environment around a representative set of platforms (and pipelines), including reference sites (natural seabed environment), to supplement available literature with site-specific data. The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) performed detailed analysis of the fish and benthic communities that are associating with the infrastructure to provide insights into understanding the habitat value of the infrastructure. An equal or better environmental outcome assessment undertaken by Esso identified that preserving the marine communities that have established on and around the platforms is a key consideration between complete removal of platforms and the proposed end state of retaining the lower sections (minimum 55 m below mean sea level) of selected platforms in situ.

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

Keywords: decommissioning, environmental benefits, equal or better environmental outcome, habitat value, impacts, preserving, risks, steel-piled jacket platforms.

Sheela Veluayitham has more than 25 years of experience in the petroleum industry, joining Mobil Oil Australia in 1996. She has held a number of roles within the organisation and is currently working as an Environment and Regulatory Advisor in the Esso Bass Strait decommissioning team. Sheela holds a Bachelor of Science degree (Hons.) from Melbourne University, Australia.