Australia Approves Production Licence for Resumption of Patricia-Baleen Gas Field

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 28, the Victorian Government of Australia confirmed that the Commonwealth-Victoria Offshore Petroleum Joint Authority has approved the production licence required for the resumption of development at the Patricia-Baleen offshore gas field, granting the licence to Cooper Energy, a subsidiary of Amplitude Energy. The field is located offshore in the Gippsland Basin, Victoria, and is expected to resume natural gas production between 2028 and 2035, with the project planning to supply up to 15 petajoules of natural gas over its full life cycle.

The production resumption plan will utilize the existing Patricia-Baleen subsea production wells and gas transmission facilities, with natural gas transported via the existing subsea pipeline to the onshore Orbost Gas Plant. The operator plans to carry out reactivation preparations for the existing subsea facilities and pipelines and to recommission the Patricia-Baleen production system.

According to existing facility information from the Australian National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority, the subsea assets associated with the field include the Patricia-2 and Baleen-4 production wells, the suspended Patricia-1 well, and approximately 24 kilometers of subsea pipeline and umbilical connecting the offshore facilities to the onshore processing system. Amplitude Energy's production resumption plan is based on the existing wellheads and subsea transmission system, with no plans to drill new production wells or lay new subsea gathering pipelines.

Amplitude Energy has previously completed the SELECT phase of the field's development resumption plan, comparing joint development options for the existing Patricia and Baleen production wells and the nearby Longtom gas field. The company has chosen to prioritize resuming natural gas production from the existing Patricia-Baleen wells while retaining the Longtom gas field as a development option for supplementary gas supply at a later stage.

The company has included the project in its front-end engineering design advancement plan, with engineering studies covering the reactivation of existing production wells, recommissioning of the subsea pipeline, and reception and processing arrangements at the Orbost Gas Plant. With the production licence now approved, the project will continue to advance the engineering design and related preparations required for resuming production.