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EPTEMBER 16 2020 - 6:00 AM
Rig set to begin gas drilling near Port Campbell

• Katrina Lovell
  
  The drilling of a new onshore-to-offshore gas well near Port Campbell is expected to begin at the end of this month.
  
  Drilling of Beach Energy's Enterprise Project is part of the company's ongoing natural gas development program and is expected to take three-to-four months when works begin which is expected to be late September.
  
  Work on the new well follows the company's successful Black Watch well which was drilled near Nirranda South earlier this year.
  That well is now supplying natural gas to the Otway Gas Plant - the first new supply in over four years.
  The well will be constructed using "extended reach drilling" - the same method used for the new well near Nirranda South.
  The drilling will target potential reservoirs located up to three nautical miles from the coastline.
  The well site will be located onshore west of Port Campbell and the rig used during the drilling is expected to be visible from the Great Ocean Road.
  
  The 55 metre-high rig is expected to operate 24-hours-a-day during the drilling phase.
  Beach Energy community manager Linda French said oversized loads and other heavy vehicles were expected to make their way to the site over the next month.
  "This is a period where there will be a number of heavy vehicle movements to and from the site, however the route for pilot-escorted oversized loads will not involve transit through Warrnambool," Ms French said.
  
  
  As an essential service provider, Beach Energy said it continued to operate under strict COVID-19 management procedures that went "above and beyond" the minimum requirements set by Victorian authorities.
  These include: pre-mobilisation health screening, maintaining an operating "bubble", strict PPE requirements, daily temperature checks, adhering to physical distancing requirements, strict delivery controls for supplies and restricting contact within the surrounding community.