ExxonMobil has halted the sale of its Gippsland Basin assets in Australia after putting them on the market in September last year.
A company spokesperson said after an extensive market evaluation, ExxonMobil had decided to retain its operated Gippsland Basin producing assets in Australia.
“Projects in our portfolio are evaluated for robustness against competition, internal alternative investments and across a range of prices and scenarios,” the spokesperson said.
“We believe Gippsland Basin and the Kipper unit are more valuable as part of our portfolio and we will continue to operate rather than divest.”
ExxonMobil reported last year that it was planning to sell its 50 per cent stake in the Gippsland Basin oil and gas development, which could be worth up to $3 billion.
The assets include 19 offshore platforms, the Longford and Long Island Point plants and associated infrastructure and production fields.
The 50:50 Gippsland Basin joint venture with BHP has been a long-standing oil and gas supplier for Australia’s east coast domestic market, but a decline in output and disappointing drilling campaigns prompted Exxon’s move to sell its assets.
In September this year, Esso Australia (a subsidiary of ExxonMobil) was given the green light to permanently plug and abandon the Seahorse (SHA) and Tarwhine (TWA) subsea wells in the Gippsland Basin offshore Victoria.
NOPSEMA approved the company’s plug and abandonment campaign that would use the Noble Tom Prosser Jack Up Rig in production licences VIC/L1 and VIC/L18 in the eastern Bass Strait.
The SHA and TWA wells are 15km and 23km off the Gippsland coastline, south of Lakes Entrance in a water depth of 43m.
Esso is the operator of the Gippsland Basin joint venture (Esso, BHP) and the Kipper Unit JV (Esso, BHP, MEPAU).
In connection with these joint ventures, Esso operates 23 offshore platforms and installations in the Bass Strait and 600km of subsea pipelines.
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