Category: News

The Centre of Decommissioning Australia (CODA) is pleased to announce the appointment of two new members to its Industry Advisory Committee: Danny Woodall, Director of Operations at Chevron Australia, and Steve Trench, Executive Vice President of Operations and Technical Services at Santos.

Danny Woodall oversees the safe and reliable operations of Chevron’s Gorgon LNG and Wheatstone LNG projects, as well as WA Oil and domestic gas assets. He joined Chevron in 2001 and has held various roles across multiple countries, following his education in chemical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Danny said he was looking forward to collaborating on practical initiatives to support excellence across the industry.

“Decommissioning is a growing industry with potential to provide significant economic, employment and ecological opportunities for Western Australia and the country. As more projects in Australia enter the decommissioning stage of their life-cycle, we have a unique opportunity to work together to develop communities of best practice and deliver world-leading decommissioning outcomes.” – Danny Woodall

Steve Trench is responsible for the global Operations and Technical Services Function at Santos. With over 25 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, including significant roles at Woodside Energy, he brings a wealth of knowledge in operations, decommissioning, asset management and strategic planning.

“I look forward to working with colleagues and CODA to shape future strategies and priorities.” – Steve Trench

As we welcome Danny and Steve, we also extend our gratitude to David Banks from Santos, who has been an integral part of our committee and whose contributions have been pivotal in shaping our strategies.

These changes underscore our commitment to harnessing top-tier industry expertise to advance Australia’s decommissioning industry.

View our Industry Advisory Committee

The Centre of Decommissioning Australia (CODA) is thrilled to release the Decommissioning Forward Outlook, its latest tool designed to support the offshore oil and gas decommissioning journey in Australia.

Australia’s oil and gas industry is gearing up for a wave of decommissioning activity expected to span several decades, and information pertaining to this huge workload is currently disparate and hard to access, with no unified, reliable, and holistic source of information. Despite this gap, understanding the workload, timing, location, and material quantities is critical for realising efficiencies in planning, infrastructure development, and supporting industry development and investment. Recognising this potential, CODA partnered with the WA Government and industry to develop the innovative Forward Outlook tool.

The Forward Outlook is a first-of-its-kind, dynamic, interactive online tool that provides visibility into Australia’s offshore oil and gas infrastructure. Users can seamlessly explore asset characteristics and details for fixed and floating facilities, subsea infrastructure, pipelines, and wells. Additionally, the tool offers detailed information on upcoming decommissioning workload and project timelines for offshore oil and gas projects in Australia.

There has not previously been a single place where a collated view of the future Australia decommissioning timeline and scope could be accessed. Visibility of upcoming work is a critical enabler for all parts of the decommissioning industry, the more forewarning every organisation has the better they can prepare. – Dr. Francis Norman, CEO

View the Forward Outlook

Features and Benefits

Local Business Development: Equips local service sector businesses with clear market visibility and critical business intelligence, empowering them to identify opportunities, win contracts, and grow within the decommissioning sector.

Attracting Foreign Investment: Provides reliable and comprehensive data on the Australian decommissioning landscape, expected to boost investor confidence and encourage overseas companies, stimulating local industry growth.

Enhanced Planning and Operational Efficiency: Streamline planning and decision-making for operators and the supply chain through seamless access to critical data.

Promotes Transparency and Collaboration: Facilitates collaboration between industry stakeholders through a unified, quality data source, potentially leading to significant cost savings and best practice approaches.

Comprehensive Data Access: Consolidates detailed information on decommissioning projects, facilities, materials, locations, and timelines in a single, user-friendly interface.

Development

The Forward Outlook was developed by CODA in partnership with the WA Government and industry partners. The tool utilises a novel artificial intelligence (AI) solution that was delivered by Perth-based company rahd AI, expediting the development of the underlying decommissioning database. This solution supported the collection and storage of thousands of data points. The secure database allows for continuous updates and amendments while preserving data history and provenance.

“The development process was a collaborative effort to ensure the platform meets real-world needs. The technology developed by rahd AI utilises advanced artificial intelligence algorithms to transform unstructured data into structured, actionable insights. By leveraging natural language processing, large language models and machine learning, the platform efficiently processes vast amounts of data, identifying key information and trends essential for decommissioning projects.” – Jake Stride, CEO at rahd AI

CODA is confident that the Forward Outlook will be an invaluable asset in navigating the complex decommissioning landscape, driving economic growth, and fostering collaboration across the industry. We look forward to seeing the positive impact it will have on the future of decommissioning in Australia.