Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) has approved the drilling of the British oil and gas company BP-operated Ironbark-1 exploration well offshore Western Australia. 

The Ironbark prospect is located in exploration permit WA-359-P, in the Carnarvon Basin, around 50km from the North West Shelf (NWS) LNG infrastructure. The Ironbark prospect holds 15 trillion cubic feet (TcF) of gas reserves. 

BP operates and owns 42.5% in the permit. Other partners include Cue Energy (21.5%), Beach Energy (21%) and New Zealand Oil & Gas (15%). 

Drilling activities at the Ironbark-1 well is planned to commence in late October 2020 using the Diamond Offshore-owned Ocean Apex drilling rig.