Chevron cleared to start up Gorgon and Jansz feed gas pipeline and wells

April 22, 2022, by Ajsa Habibic

Australian National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) has approved Chevron’s environment plan for the commissioning, start‐up and operation of the Gorgon and Jansz feed gas pipeline and wells.

In August 2021, Chevron submitted the environmental plan covering activities for the operation of the petroleum pipeline in Commonwealth Waters and NOPSEMA accepted the application on Thursday, 21 April.

The petroleum activities addressed in the plan include commissioning and start‐up operations, inspections, maintenance and repair (IMR) activities, and field support activities including support vessel activities and helicopter transfer.

The Jansz–Io gas fields are located within production licenses WA‐36‐L, WA‐39‐L and WA‐40‐L approximately 200 kilometres off the northwest coast of Western Australia in water depths of approximately 1,350 metres.

The Gorgon gas field is located within production licences WA‐37‐L and WA‐38‐L, around 130 kilometres off the northwest coast of Western Australia and 65 kilometres northwest of Barrow Island in water depths of approximately 200 metres.

The wells associated with Chevron’s plan are located in WA‐36‐L, WA‐37‐L, WA‐38‐L and WA‐39‐L while the pipelines are located in Commonwealth Waters within pipeline licences WA‐19‐PL and WA‐20‐PL.

The initial field development, associated with the Gorgon Foundation Project, was commissioned in 2015. It consisted of wells and subsea infrastructure, including the feed gas pipeline.

This field development is being supplemented by Gorgon Stage 2 (GS2), which comprises additional wells and subsea infrastructure within the Gorgon and Jansz-Io gas fields.

Commissioning and start‐up activities associated with GS2 are scheduled to commence in the first half of 2022.

GS2 was part of the original field development plans for the Gorgon gas development that is expected to have a nominal operational design life of 50 years.

Another Chevron’s significant capital investment in Australia since the sanctioning of the GS2 project in 2018 is the Jansz-Io Compression (J-IC) project, which was sanctioned in early July 2021.

Chevron has already lined up several contractors to work on the project. These include Aker Solutions, which will provide subsea compression technology as well as dynamic subsea umbilicals for the project. The umbilicals will provide power from the platform to the subsea compressor and pump modules.

Furthermore, ABB will supply the overall electrical power system and MAN Energy Solutions will provide five subsea compression units. Three compressor units will be installed into the subsea modules, while the remaining two will serve as spare units.