Page 94 - Annual Report 2020

1.9.4 Petroleum continued

Thebe North West Shelf VICTORIA

Scarborough

Ma ra
Snapper
Sale Tuna
Longford Kipper
Dampier
Australia
Bream Turrum Flounder
Macedon Halibut
Pyrenees Onslow
Barracouta
Blackback
Kingfish

WESTERN AUSTRALIA
0 200km 0 10 20 30km Bass Strait
BHP acreage Oil fields Gas fields

Petroleum

Australia Pyrenees
Overview BHP operates the Pyrenees FPSO facility, located approximately
Bass Strait 23 kilometres off Northwest Cape, Western Australia. The facility
produces from six offshore fields. We had an effective 62.36 per cent
We have produced oil and gas from Bass Strait (50 per cent interest in the fields as at 30 June 2020 based on inception-to-date
interest) for more than 50 years. Our operations are located production from two permits in which we have interests of
between 25 and 80 kilometres off the southeastern coast of 71.43 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively.
Australia. The Gippsland Basin Joint Venture, operated by Esso
Australia (a subsidiary of ExxonMobil), participated in the original Macedon
discovery and development of hydrocarbons in the basin. The We are the operator of Macedon (71.43 per cent interest), an
Kipper gas field under the Kipper Unit Joint Venture (32.5 per cent offshore gas field located around 75 kilometres west of Onslow,
interest), also operated by Esso Australia, has brought online Western Australia and an onshore gas processing facility located
additional gas and liquids production that are processed via around 17 kilometres southwest of Onslow.
existing Gippsland Basin Joint Venture facilities. The operation consists of four subsea wells, with gas piped onshore
The majority of our Bass Strait crude oil and condensate production to the processing plant. After processing, the gas is delivered into
is sold to local refineries in Australia. Gas is piped onshore to the a pipeline and sold to the Western Australian domestic market.
Gippsland Joint Venture’s Longford processing facility, from where Minerva
we sell our share of production to domestic retailers and end users.
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is dispatched via pipeline, road BHP operates the Minerva Joint Venture (90 per cent interest), a
tanker or sea tanker. Ethane is dispatched via pipeline to a gas field located 11 kilometres south-southwest of Port Campbell in
petrochemical plant in western Melbourne. western Victoria. The operation consists of two subsea wells, with
North West Shelf gas piped onshore to a processing plant. After processing, the gas
is delivered into a pipeline and sold domestically.
We are a joint venture participant in the North West Shelf project On 3 September 2019, the Minerva gas field reached end-of-field
(12.5–16.67 per cent interest), located approximately 125 kilometres life and production ceased at the Minerva gas plant. On 1 May 2018,
northwest of Dampier in Western Australia. The North West Shelf BHP entered into an agreement for the sale of its interests in the
project supplies gas to the Western Australian domestic market onshore gas plant with subsidiaries of Cooper Energy and Mitsui
and liquefied natural gas (LNG) to buyers primarily in Japan, E&P Australia Pty Ltd. The agreement provided for the transfer
South Korea and China. of the plant and associated land after the cessation of current
North West Shelf gas is piped from offshore fields to the onshore operations processing gas from the Minerva gas field. The sale
Karratha Gas Plant for processing. LPG, condensate and LNG are was completed on 5 December 2019.
transported to market by ship, while domestic gas is transported
by the Dampier-to-Bunbury and Pilbara Energy pipelines to buyers.
We are also a joint venture partner in four nearby oil fields –
Cossack, Wanaea, Lambert and Hermes – produced through the
Okha floating production, storage and off-take (FPSO) facility
(16.67 per cent interest). All North West Shelf gas and oil joint
ventures are operated by Woodside Energy Limited (Woodside).

92 BHP Annual Report 2020