Santos has submitted an environmental plan to the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) for the decommissioning of a pipeline between the Bayu-Undan platform and the Darwin liquified natural gas (DLNG) plant.
The Australian regulator is assessing the application, which also includes: pipeline section cutting and removal and end capping at the tie-in point; pipeline cleaning activities; pipeline section removal; and in situ decommissioning of the pipeline section.
“The decommissioning of the pipeline will take place within Timor-Leste offshore waters (Bayu-Undan platform to KP34.2) and Australian Commonwealth waters (KP34.2 to the tie-in point), while the preservation of the pipeline will take place across Australian Commonwealth waters (tie-in point to KP404) and NT waters (KP404 to the DLNG plant),” Santos explained in its environment plan.
Santos advised that pipeline decommissioning and preservation is planned to start after Bayu-Undan production ceases, which may commence as early as 2021 or as late as 2023.
Outlined in the EP, the decommissioning is set to take 39-46 weeks and the total duration of the preservation activities are estimated at two years.
The Bayu-Undan to Darwin gas export pipeline that transports dry natural gas from the Bayu-Undan field in the Timor-Leste offshore waters to the DLNG plant near Darwin, Northern Territory.
Santos has outlined that the Bayu-Undan field is approaching the end of its commercially productive life, with the pipeline being in operation since 2005.
“In anticipation of the end of Bayu-Undan production, the DLNG infrastructure owners are currently assessing multiple options to backfill the facility’s existing LNG train. One option for new supply of feed gas is connection of a new upstream gas supply at or near kilometre point (KP) 380,” Santos outlined in its EP.
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