Stakeholder consultation
Good afternoon,
After delivering energy to Australia for over 50 years, many of the Bass Strait fields are now reaching the end of their productive life. As a result, Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd (Esso), together with its co-venturer, Woodside Energy (Bass Strait) Pty Ltd, is planning to undertake the second Bass Strait decommissioning campaign. Activities proposed for the Decommissioning Campaign #1A include removal of approximately 47 kilometres of umbilicals and flexibles, along with associated ancillary subsea property such as umbilical termination assemblies and concrete stabilisation mattresses
As part of the project key approvals, Esso are preparing to submit the Decommissioning Campaign #1A Execution Environment Plan to the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) in first quarter 2026
Pending regulatory approvals, preparation activities for this Environment Plan are anticipated to commence between 2028 and 2032. Further details including information on the key environmental impacts and risks associated with the activities planned to be conducted, as part of Decommissioning Campaign #1A, are available in this Information Bulletin.
Esso has identified that you may be a relevant person because you or your organisation have functions, interests, or activities that may be affected by one or more of our proposed offshore petroleum activities.
This link provides more information on who may be a relevant person to our activities.
If you would like to be further consulted on any of these activities, please reply to this email or contact us through the Esso Consultation Hub. Our Consultation Hub allows you to easily access information on our activities and review them more closely, including the impacts and risks of each activity. The Hub also provides access to the Esso Consultation Questionnaire, which will help us to better understand what activities you are interested in, how you want to be consulted and any questions or feedback you may have.
We also regularly host community consultation sessions at locations near our sites, and welcome you to attend if you would like to learn more about our operations.
Legislative and regulatory requirements
While preparing an Environment Plan, a titleholder must consult with relevant persons in accordance with Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Environment) Regulations 2023 (Cth), Division 3, and demonstrate that the measures (if any) that the titleholder has adopted, or proposes to adopt, resulting from the consultations are appropriate.
Please refer to this NOPSEMA brochure to understand more about consultation on offshore petroleum environment plans, including:
- Who can participate?
- Am I a relevant person?
- Do I have to participate?
- What is the process for consultation?
NOPSEMA’s assessment and decision-making will consider if titleholders have adequately demonstrated in the Environment Plan that genuine consultation has taken place with relevant persons in accordance with regulations.
Your feedback and our response will be included in our Environment Plan for the proposed activities, which will be submitted to NOPSEMA for acceptance in accordance with the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Environment) Regulations 2023 (Cth). Please let us know if your feedback is sensitive and we will make this known to NOPSEMA upon submission of the Environment Plan in order for this information to remain confidential to NOPSEMA.
You can access the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Environment) Regulations 2023 (Cth) here.
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