Woodside’s Scarborough seismic survey plan open for comments

Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) is inviting public comments for Woodside’s proposed Scarborough 4D B1 marine seismic survey.

Woodside proposes to conduct a 4D baseline marine seismic survey (MSS) over the Scarborough, North Scarborough and Jupiter gas fields within Commonwealth waters, located in the Carnarvon Basin.

NOPSEMA opened the proposal for public comments on 18 October, with the deadline for the submission being 17 November.

Proposed activities will occur within permit areas WA-61-L, WA-62-L and WA-61-R.

The planned duration of the survey is 80 days, commencing in the third quarter of 2022. Work will occur no earlier than 1 January 2022 and will be completed by the end of 2023.

The extent of the active source area is approximately 5,650 km2, while the extent of the operational area is approximately 9,200 km2. Water depths range from 800 to 1,150 meters.

The Scarborough gas field contains an estimated contingent resource (2C) dry gas volume of 11.1 Tcf.

The field, discovered in 1979, is located off the coast of Western Australia approximately 220 kilometers northwest of Exmouth in 900 meters of water.

Woodside recently announced it had increased the cost estimate for the offshore and onshore parts of the Scarborough project development by five percent.

The company finalized the technical work to support execution readiness and completed an update of the capital expenditure requirements for the development ahead of the final investment decision (FID) anticipated by the end of the year.