West Barracouta Gas Field

Bringing new gas supplies to the Australian domestic market

Article

Project overview

Esso Australia Pty Ltd (Esso) is developing the West Barracouta field, bringing new gas supplies to the Australian domestic market.

The West Barracouta gas development involves drilling two gas production wells and constructing associated subsea gas production facilities to access gas in the existing Barracouta field and efficiently leverages Esso’s existing oil and gas production infrastructure in Gippsland.

Once constructed, the West Barracouta subsea infrastructure will be controlled from the Barracouta platform over five kilometres away.

West Barracouta gas will be delivered through a 5km pipeline via a new connection into the existing Barracouta pipeline so that the gas flows directly to the Longford Gas Plants. The new pipeline will be connected using a hot-tap, which means that important Barracouta gas supplies via the existing pipeline can continue uninterrupted while the new pipeline is being connected.

Investing in Australia’s gas future

Esso Australia continues to be a key supplier of gas for the Australian domestic market, as it has been for more than 50 years.

Since drilling the first Bass Strait well in 1965, the Gippsland Basin Joint Venture operations have delivered more than four billion barrels of oil and 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to Australia. This is more than half of all the oil ever produced in Australia, and enough gas to power almost every home in Australia for a decade. Today, the Gippsland Basin Joint Venture is a crucial supplier to the nation as the largest supplier of gas to the eastern Australia market.

West Barracouta is yet another significant investment by Esso Australia to supply much-needed gas to the Australian the domestic gas market, and builds on more than $5.5 billion invested by the Gippsland Basin Joint Venture in other recent Victorian projects supplying gas for Australians, including the Kipper, Tuna, Turrum offshore project and the associated Longford Gas Conditioning Plant, completed in 2017.

The West Barracouta development is a complex project involving:

-Drilling two subsea gas production wells.

-Installation of two subsea trees, consisting of pipework and control valves, on the wells, which each weigh over 50 tonnes.

-Installation of significant associated subsea equipment including a pipeline-end manifold and pipeline skid, umbilical termination assembly and jumpers and flying leads.

-Installation of a new ~6km umbilical/control line which supplies hydraulic fluids necessary to operate the wells and a new ~5km pipeline between the wells and the existing Barracouta pipeline.

-A hot-tap connection linking this new pipeline to the existing Barracouta pipeline, which provides a connection to the Longford gas plant.

-All installation will be completed by deep-sea divers supported by a dive support vessel. Once installed, testing of the infrastructure will be completed using remote operated vehicles.

Watch the below video to see how it will all come together.

Download the fact sheet