Gorgon stage two drilling campaign starts

Chevron has started the second stage of its Gorgon drilling campaign, which will create 11 new wells at the $5 billion project on Western Australia’s north-west coast.

Chevron said Gorgon stage two was an expansion of the existing subsea gas gathering network at the Gorgon facility and was part of the project’s original development plan.

Seven new wells are planned for the Gorgon field and four in the Jansz-Io field at depths of between 220 metres and 1,320 metres.

The campaign will include system upgrades on Barrow Island and the offshore installation of 11 vertical subsea production trees, more than 46 kilometres of production pipelines, 28.7km of control umbilicals and 2,840 tonnes of subsea structures.

Chevron operates the Gorgon project, and has a 47.3 per cent stake in the joint venture.

ExxonMobil and Shell have a 25 per cent stake each, while Osaka Gas, Tokyo Gas and JERA combined have a stake of around 2.7 per cent.

Chevron Australia managing director Al Williams said the development supported Chevron’s long-term supply of affordable, reliable and ever-cleaner energy to WA and its regional neighbours.

“This expansion will support local employment and contract opportunities on Gorgon for decades to come, with immediate benefits flowing through the drilling and completion activities, subsea infrastructure installation and local project management,” he said.

Chevron said that to date, the Gorgon project has spent more than $40 billion on Australian goods and services and awarded more than 700 contracts to Australian companies.