Outside Australia, decommissioning is ongoing with work in Canada, at both the upstream Liard and Horn River basins and
downstream Kitimat locations in British Columbia, and in the United States where one deepwater well has been plugged and
abandoned and legacy site decommissioning is ongoing.
Woodside and its joint venture participants continue to responsibly progress decommissioning obligations in line with
relevant local regulatory environments. Woodside will continue conducting long-term studies to further understand the environmental, economic and social opportunities and risks associated with our decommissioning activities, with the aim of
optimising outcomes.
In Australia, significant progress was made across the Enfield, Griffin and Stybarrow fields, offshore north west Western
Australia, as well as the Minerva field, offshore Victoria.
This included:
- the conclusion of the ten-well Stybarrow plugging campaign (which commenced in 2024);
- the retrieval of the Echo Yodel umbilical; and
- the completion of plugging and abandonment activities at the Minerva field.
In 2025, final infrastructure was recovered from the Enfield field, concluding a multi-year decommissioning program that
included permanently plugging and abandoning all 18 Enfield wells, recovering and deconstructing the Nganhurra riser turret
mooring, and removing flexible flowlines, umbilicals and other subsea structures. Deconstruction of the Nganhurra riser turret
mooring reused, repurposed or recycled 99.6% of materials. Enfield is the first project that Woodside has taken from
exploration through development and operations, to decommissioning. The remaining activity at Enfield is to complete final
surveys, which are planned for 2026.
The Gippsland Basin Joint Venture (GBJV), comprising Esso Australia and Woodside, has continued planned decommissioning
activities in Bass Strait. In 2025, 69 wells were plugged and abandoned, contributing to a cumulative total of more than 220
wells permanently plugged since the campaign commenced. This includes the completion of plugging the Bream B and
Kingfish A platform wells in the first half of 2025. Detailed engineering and execution planning, including submission of
environmental approvals to regulators for assessment, is well advanced for the Bass Strait offshore platform removal
campaign planned to commence in 2027.
Griffin decommissioning: incident response and lessons learnt
In 2025, Woodside continued decommissioning of the Griffin field, achieving significant milestones including the completion
of wellhead severance activities, adding to the successful recovery of the Griffin riser turret mooring in 2024. Over 60
kilometres of pipeline, flexible flowlines and umbilicals have been recovered and transported to an onshore facility near
Onslow, Western Australia for cleaning and preparation for recycling, reuse or disposal.
In May 2025, during planned flushing of a Griffin subsea flowline in preparation for removal, an unexpected fluid release
occurred. The incident was managed under Woodside’s Crisis Incident Management Framework, with regulatory-approved
response and monitoring plans activated. The event was short term and localised, with no lasting impact to the environment.
Woodside’s investigation identified that the condition of the flowlines was not fully understood, including the implications of
historical flushing activities. Key learnings and corrective actions were implemented to improve risk identification and
verification of asset conditions, enhancing planning and execution of future decommissioning activities. These actions reflect
Woodside’s commitment to continuous improvement and to pursuing safe and environmentally responsible decommissioning
practices.
Minerva decommissioning: incident response and lessons learnt
In 2025, during decommissioning activities at the Minerva field, offshore south west Victoria, an unplanned event occurred
when plastic clamp materials were dislodged to the marine environment. The plastic clamps were used to ‘bundle’
components of the pipeline and were not exposed to hydrocarbons.
State and Commonwealth regulators were notified, and pipeline recovery activities were suspended pending revision of
accepted environment plans. Preparations are continuing for the future retrieval of the remaining 5.5km of pipeline.
Prior to the suspension, over 1,500 tonnes of infrastructure and equipment was successfully removed from the Minerva field
including more than 4,400 kilograms of plastic material. While most of the plastic clamps from the Minerva field were
successfully recovered intact to the vessel undertaking the decommissioning works, approximately 186kg of clamp material
was inadvertently dislodged.
Woodside engaged a specialist environmental contractor to conduct beach surveys and clean-up activities across the local
region. Over an 11-week period (55 days), more than 50 beaches were visited. Approximately 36kg of clamp materials have
been recovered by Woodside and members of the community.
Woodside’s investigation found that when the pipeline "bundle" was cut, stored residual energy was released placing stress on
the bundle clamps which, in some situations, led to clamp components being dislodged to the marine environment.
Approximately half of the Minerva pipeline remains to be recovered and will require revised state and Commonwealth
environment plans to complete the activity. Woodside will consult relevant stakeholders in developing new environment plans
including proposed measures to mitigate the potential loss of plastic materials during pipeline recovery activities.
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