SapuraOMV preparing for Kanga survey offshore Australia

Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) has begun an assessment of SapuraOMV’s Kanga-1 geophysical and geotechnical site survey offshore Australia.

NOPSEMA said that the plan for the
survey was submitted on 3 June 2020. According to the offshore safety
authority, the decision regarding the plan was supposed to be made on 9 June,
but no additional info was given.

In the plan, SapuraOMV stated that it
would conduct a geotechnical and geophysical survey within Permit WA-412-P
located in Commonwealth waters.

The site survey location is
approximately 163 kilometres north of Karratha in water depths of around 147 metres.

An operational area has been defined
within Permit WA-412-P, which represents a 4×4 kilometre area encapsulating all
potential geophysical and geotechnical survey locations.

The geophysical component of the
survey will collect data for assessment of water depths, seabed topography,
seabed conditions, and identification of obstructions on the seabed that may
include data collection with a multi-beam echo sounder, side-scan sonar,
sub-bottom profiler, and magnetometer.

The geotechnical component of the
survey is to assess and characterise seabed conditions within the operational
area, including calibrating and interpreting geophysical results that may
include cone penetration testing, piston coring or vibracore sampling, and box
core sampling.

The survey has been planned to occur
between January-November 2020 for a duration of up to 14 days.

The timing of the survey is dependent
upon vessel availability, weather conditions, and the receipt of the required
statutory approvals.

The stipulated durations do not,
however, provide for vessel transit times, potential delays caused by ocean
conditions, weather downtime, standby and equipment failure or other delays
relative to the survey plan, as these factors are difficult to predict or
quantify.

SapuraOMV also stated in its survey plan
that the activities would be undertaken 24 hours per day.