Woodside Energy (Bass Strait) Pty Ltd has entered into a gas sales agreement (GSA) with Qenos Pty Ltd for the supply of natural gas from Woodside’s equity position in Bass Strait in Victoria.

The GSA covers the supply of 4.5 petajoules of gas in 2023 for use at Qenos’ polyethylene manufacturing facilities at Altona in Victoria and Botany Bay in New South Wales.

Woodside Executive Vice President Marketing & Trading Mark Abbotsford said: “This agreement ensures affordable gas supply to an important large-scale industrial consumer at a time of increased volatility and uncertainty in east coast energy markets.

“Woodside is pleased to be able to deliver reliable and competitively priced gas to support the energy needs of an essential domestic manufacturer and major employer in Victoria and New South Wales.”

Woodside is a non-operating joint venture participant in the Bass Strait Project (ExxonMobil being the operator), which has been involved in oil and gas exploration and production off Victoria’s Gippsland coast since 1964. Gas production from Bass Strait currently supplies approximately 40 per cent of Australian east coast domestic gas demand.

Bass Strait includes a portfolio of contingent and prospective opportunities, primarily from deeper, acid gas resources with commercialisation enabled by the Longford Gas Conditioning Plant, commissioned in 2017, which provides acid gas processing capability.

Further investment to deliver additional gas between 2023 and 2027 including additional development from the Kipper field and advancing funding decision for the Turrum field were announced in March 2022.

Several of the Bass Strait offshore facilities have ceased production following field depletion and an active program of restoration is underway.