Australia's Woodside Energy takes operatorship of Bass Strait assets from ExxonMobil
The Bass Strait portfolio includes the Gippsland Basin and the Kipper Unit joint ventures. Woodside and ExxonMobil each hold a 50% stake in the Gippsland Basin, while they own 32.5% each in the Kipper Unit. ExxonMobil had been the operator of these assets until now.
The change in operatorship will not affect the companies' equity interests or existing decommissioning plans and provisions, Woodside said.
The company flagged future development potential under its capital allocation framework, identifying four possible wells that could supply up to 200 petajoules of gas to the domestic market.
The announcement comes just weeks after the Australian government said it was considering a gas reservation policy for the east coast to help avert supply shortfalls.
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