Woodside set for control of Bass Strait offshore gas fields

ExxonMobil Australia has agreed to transfer operatorship to partner Woodside Energy of the Bass Strait gas fields and production facilities offshore and onshore southeast Australia.

The arrangement includes the Longford Gas Plant, the Long Island Point gas liquids processing facility and associated pipeline infrastructure. Woodside and ExxonMobil’s interests in the assets and the current decommissioning plans will remain unchanged.

ExxonMobil’s Bass Strait workforce will also transfer to Woodside, which said that operating a larger group of assets in Australia should lead to over $60 million in synergies/cost savings from the Bass Strait after the deduction of transition and integration costs.

Woodside added that it had identified four potential development wells that could deliver up to 200 petajoules of sales gas to the Australian east coast market. Under the agreement, the company can develop these opportunities via the existing Bass Strait infrastructure, subject to further technical maturation and a final investment decision.

ExxonMobil Australia chair Simon Younger said his company remained committed to delivering gas to its customers in Australia. “After operating the Gippsland basin Joint Venture for more than 50 years…we look forward to working with Woodside as it continues to maximize Gippsland basin production.”

Completion of the transfer is targeted for 2026, subject to obtaining regulatory approvals. 

The Bass Strait assets include the Gippsland Basin Joint Venture (GBJV) and the Kipper Unit Joint Venture (KUJV): Woodside and ExxonMobil Australia each have a 50% interest in the GBJV and 32.5% in the KUJV. 

All gas produced is allocated to the Australian market and currently satisfies around 40% of the eastern domestic gas demand, covering Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory and South Australia.