Australia's National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) is giving UK supermajor BP until the end of August to resubmit its modified environmental plan for exploration drilling at the Great Australian Bight that the offshore regulator rejected last year.
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Map of the Great Australian Bight, from BP. |
On 16 May 2016, NOPSEMA provided BP an opportunity to modify and resubmit their environment plan for exploration drilling in the Great Australian Bight. On 12 July, NOPSEMA granted BP’s request for an extension of the timeframe for resubmission so they may address the matters raised by NOPSEMA in the assessment.
“The modified plan is now expected to be resubmitted by 31 August, at which time NOPSEMA will recommence the assessment,” the Australian offshore regulator said.
BP was originally expected to resubmit its proposal at the end of this week, on 15 July.
“BP can confirm it has requested an extension from NOPSEMA to resubmit its Environment Plan (EP) for the proposed drilling area in the Great Australian Bight," a BP spokesperson told OE. "We remain very committed to our exploration drilling program in the Great Australian Bight and to carrying out this work in a way that is safe, responsible and benefits the community.”
BP is proposing to drill four exploration wells, with the locations yet to be determined, in Commonwealth marine waters in the Greater Australian Bight. The drilling area is the previously acquired Ceduna 3D seismic survey area, which covers 12,100sq km across exploration permit for petroleum (EPP) EPP 37, EPP 38, EPP 39 and EPP 40. BP and Statoil are the registered titleholders of EPPs 37, 38, 39 and 40, with BP being the operator.
The drilling area is in 1000-2500m water depth, and at the closest point, the drilling area is located approximately 395km west of Port Lincoln and 340km southwest of Ceduna in South Australia (SA).
According to BP, each well will take between 45 and 170 days to drill, with plants to use Diamond Offshore Drilling's dynamically positioned Moss CS60E Design sixth generation semisubmersible mobile offshore drilling unit Ocean Great White.
In May, BP said that the company was assessing NOPSEMA’s feedback and was working toward resubmitting its environment plan in the coming months.
"We have allowed sufficient time in our program schedule for this regulatory process and continue to work toward commencing exploration drilling in late 2016, subject to the acceptance of our environment plan," BP said in May.
In November 2015, NOPSEMA rejected BP’s four well drilling plan for the project, stating it was not satisfied that the environment plan for exploration drilling had met regulatory requirements. The rejection followed NOPSEMA’s decision months prior, on 28 October, to take taking extra time to review the plan, originally submitted to the regulator on 1 October.
According to NOPSEMA, the regulator will typically provide two opportunities to modify and resubmit, but is not restricted to providing only two opportunities. Since NOPSEMA was established on 1 January 2012, 4% of all environment plans submitted for assessment have been refused.
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