Chevron Starts Gorgon Stage Two Drilling

Chevron Australia and the Gorgon joint venture participants have started the Gorgon Stage 2 drilling campaign off the northwest coast of Western Australia.

Gorgon Stage Two is an expansion of the existing subsea gas gathering network on the Chevron-led Gorgon facility and is part of the project’s original development plan.

Chevron Australia Managing Director Al Williams said the campaign will drill 11 additional wells in the Gorgon and Jansz-Io gas fields to maintain long-term natural gas supply to the 15.6 million tonnes per annum LNG and domestic gas plants on Barrow Island.

The development, in water depths of between 220 and 1,320 metres, will consist of seven new wells in the Gorgon Field and four new wells in the Jansz-Io Field.

Wells in the Gorgon Field will be drilled by a mobile offshore drilling unit, DD1. The rig was recently in Dampier preparing for the campaign.

“This development supports Chevron’s long-term supply of affordable, reliable and ever-cleaner energy to Western Australia and our regional neighbours,” Williams said.

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.

“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,” Williams added.

Chevron said it is working collaboratively with government, industry and others to build Perth as an energy centre of excellence which will help boost jobs, drive technological innovation and support a local services sector.