PTTEP submits plan for suspension of three wells in Australia

Thailand’s PTTEP has submitted a plan for the suspension of three wells to Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA).

NOPSEMA said that it received the plan on 30 April 2020 from two PTTEP subsidiaries, PTTEP Australasia and PTTEP Australia Timor Sea.

PTTEP Australasia is the 100 per cent titleholder of the AC/RL12 title area while PTTEP Australia Timor Sea is the 100 per cent titleholder of the AC/RL4.

The title areas are located in a remote area of the Timor Sea, over 260 kilometres northwest of the Kimberley coastline of Western Australia, and some 640 km west of Darwin.

They are located in an area of shared jurisdiction with Indonesia called the Perth Treaty Area. As such, the title areas and the petroleum activity covered by this EP are located outside of the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the Australian Fishing Zone (AFZ).

According to the offshore regulator, this EP covers the ongoing suspension of three wells – Oliver-1 ST1, Oliver-2, and Tenacious West-1 ST1.

The wellheads are currently suspended on the seabed, isolated from the hydrocarbon zone and assessed as having adequate tested well barriers. The wells will continue to be suspended until they are plugged and abandoned, which is scheduled to occur in 2022.

As part of this EP, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) inspection of the three wells will be performed which will validate the current well barrier status and inform future permanent plug and abandonment plans for the wells.

The ROV will be deployed from a vessel to locate the three wellheads and perform visual inspection and leak testing activities. The inspections are anticipated to take between 2 and 6 hours per wellhead.

The inspection campaign will be carried out as soon as technically and practically possible, with the intention for this to be in performed in the first or second quarter of 2021.