Woodside Energy has officially taken over as operator of the Gippsland Basin assets, including the Gippsland Basin Joint Venture and the Kipper Unit Joint Venture, from Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd, marking a significant shift for one of the country’s most important domestic energy operations.
The Gippsland Basin assets have supplied energy to Australian homes and businesses for decades and remain central to east coast energy security.
With this transition, Woodside now stands as operator of one of Australia’s most nationally significant energy assets.
Woodside CEO Liz Westcott said the completion of the transition marked an important milestone for the company’s Australian operations.
She said the change represents a new chapter for the Gippsland Basin joint ventures as Woodside takes on operatorship of assets that play a critical role in supplying gas to Australian homes and businesses.
Operatorship of the GBJV and KUJV strengthens Woodside’s Australian portfolio and builds on the company’s experience managing complex, long-life energy assets.
The transition has been designed to ensure continuity of operations, with experienced Gippsland teams continuing to support safe and reliable production.
Woodside will apply its operating systems, governance and technical capability to support the next phase of the assets’ lifecycle.
This includes ongoing production, disciplined investment, and planning for late-life asset management and decommissioning.
As operator, Woodside will also continue to assess development opportunities within the Gippsland Basin Joint Venture, with identified prospects that could deliver up to 200 petajoules of additional gas supply to the east coast market by leveraging existing infrastructure.
The company said it will continue working closely with regulators, joint venture participants, customers and local communities as it takes on the operator role.
