Beach Energy gets nod to drill in Australian waters

Australia’s offshore regulator has accepted an environment plan (EP) for drilling and plug-and-abandon (P&A) activities offshore Australia submitted by Beach Energy (Operations) Limited, a subsidiary of the country’s oil and gas player Beach Energy.

Based on the approved environment plan, exploration drilling activities are set to be carried out in the Otway Basin and plug and abandonment in the Otway and Bass Basins offshore Australia.

Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) accepted the EP on February 6, 2025. A previous plan for the drilling campaign was submitted to the offshore regulator in mid-2024.

Beach proposes to drill up to five wells in Otway. This includes up to three exploration wells, one in exploration license VIC/P43 and up to two in T/30P, one appraisal well in production license VIC/L35 (formerly part of VIC/P43), and one exploration or appraisal well in production license VIC/L36 (previously part of VIC/P73). 

Additionally, the plugging, abandonment, and removal of well infrastructure activities are set to be undertaken above the mudline for five legacy suspended subsea exploration wells. These are Thylacine 1 in T/L2,  Geographe 1 in VIC/L23, Trefoil 1 in T/L5, Yolla 1 in T/L1, and White Ibis 1 in T/RL4.

Both drilling and P&A activities are slated to be carried out within a three-kilometer radius around the well sites while the drill rig is moored on location. This area encompasses the outer extent of mooring equipment on the seabed and the 500-meter petroleum safety zone (PSZ).

The drilling is expected to last 30–40 days per well and plug and abandonment 15–20 days per well. As the schedule entails conducting operations 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, this is envisaged to take approximately 300 days during a period between January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2028.

Beach intends to undertake the proposed activities with a single-moored semi-submersible drill rig with a thruster-assisted mooring system. The drill rig will be supported with up to three vessels.

In October 2024, the Australian firm started production from two wells in the Otway Basin, Thylacine West 1 and 2 following delays due to a failure of a flowline during pressure testing. The well duo is situated around 70 kilometers south of Port Campbell at a water depth of around 100 meters.