Supporting Australian Oil and Gas Operator with Offshore Approvals

For this project, our team was tasked with the preparation, coor­di­na­tion and review of approvals to address all aspects of the petroleum lifecycle, including early exploration (seismic surveys and exploration drilling), appraisal, development drilling, construc­tion, commis­sion­ing and operations, through to decom­mis­sion­ing.

CDM Smith's work spanned a range of services, including:

• Strategic approvals advice,including early approvals strategy framing and identifying a pathway of optimal approvals and inputs into permitting schedules, including coor­di­na­tion across disciplines
• Envi­ron­men­tal risk workshop facil­i­ta­tion and partic­i­pa­tion, including preparation of risk registers and envi­ron­men­tal risk assessments
• Study support and modeling, including scoping and reviews, and synthesis of key conclusions in an approvals context. This work includes coor­di­na­tion and review of routine discharges (wastewater, produced water, cooling water), non-routine spill modeling and underwater noise assessments undertaken by discipline specialist companies
• Stakeholder engagement, featuring facil­i­ta­tion of targeted stake­hold­ers and inputs into the broader stakeholder consul­ta­tion process and strategy, including stakeholder mapping and analysis, and engagement with technical subject matter experts.
• Regulatory engagement, including engagement with regulatory agencies in a technical advisory capacity to contribute to effective commu­ni­ca­tions
• Preparation of offshore approvals docu­men­ta­tion, including reviews in support of submission to regulatory agencies
• Interfacing with multiple project team members, including the engineering lead, external relations, and envi­ron­men­tal studies and approvals team members to coordinate integrated lead-time planning

In addition to this, CDM Smith is also providing envi­ron­men­tal advisory support in the development of envi­ron­men­tal submissions for new sub-sea drilling, construc­tion and instal­la­tion activities. This scope supports a process of continuous improvement through trans­fer­able learning from the most recent offshore envi­ron­men­tal approvals across regulatory juris­dic­tions. CDM Smith's scope includes coor­di­na­tion and interfacing with cross-discipline teams, integrated planning and scheduling of collective team inputs, envi­ron­men­tal risk partic­i­pa­tion, and preparation of envi­ron­men­tal assessment deliv­er­ables.