Woodside (Australia)

• Bioretention systems retained 63 % of inflow volumes and reduced peak flows by 74 %. • Load reduction was higher than concentration reduction due to volume retention. • Filter media sand content was positively correlated to peak flow reduction. • Smaller bioretention basins were better at reducing volumes than larger ones. • Lined systems did not reduce less volume than unlined ones, but were much smaller. Urbanisation adversely impacts waterway health, which can result in increased flow volumes, flow frequency and stormwater pollutant loads. Stormwater bioretention is a stormwater management tool that can reduce stormwater flow volumes and pollutants. Whilst these systems are constructed worldwide, we still have limited knowledge about how they behave in reality when installed in urban landscapes. As such, this investigation aimed to identify the stormwater retention and pollutant load reduction performance of stormwater bioretention systems monitored across the globe in urban areas and identify parameters that may influence the performance. We conducted a meta -analysis of stormwater retention performance and pollutant load and concentration reduction by field bioretention systems published in academic literature. Based on 50 assets, we found that in the urban landscape, bioretention systems can, on average, reduce stormwater runoff volume by 63 % (SD = 26 %) and reduce peak flows by 74 % (SD = 29 %). Additionally, bioretention systems were able to reduce total suspended solids load by an average of 80 % (SD = 21 %), total nitrogen loads by 55 % (SD = 25 %), and total phosphorus loads by 62 % (SD = 29 %). Lower performance was noted in terms of pollutant concentration reduction compared to load reduction. There were several critical findings in this study, such as smaller bioretention surface area had higher volumetric percent reduction which indicates good flow distribution, and field studies confirm the presence of saturated zone increases TN removal, as in lab studies. This investigation provides evidence that field-scale stormwater bioretention basins in urban landscapes can reduce stormwater volumes, peak flows, and improve stormwater quality.

Abstract Objective (25-75 words) Energy incumbents face risks and opportunities from the energy transition, requiring portfolio-wide decarbonisation (typically >30-40% CI (Carbon Intensity) reduction by 2030) necessitating structural change. Traditional merger & acquisition evaluation lacks systematic integration of carbon intensity as a core performance metric. This paper introduces a practical framework to manage portfolio transformation as a key lever for Carbon Intensity reduction, demonstrated through a composite case study for an Oil & Gas Major targeting ∼30% portfolio CO2e abatement while maximizing commercial value. Method (75 – 100 Words) Achieving step-change Carbon Intensity reduction via acquisitions and divestments (A&D) requires moving beyond purely financial metrics. Distilling "best in class" project experience and lessons, we present a structured, stage-gated framework embedding Carbon Intensity management throughout the portfolio transformation lifecycle by: Recognising risk though Carbon Intensity targets and baselines to quantify portfolio risk exposure and defining Carbon Intensity-weighted A&D screening criteria. Building value by mandating Carbon Intensity verification and impact modelling within due diligence/valuation, linking Carbon Intensity to near-term efficiency and long-term value drivers (e.g., access to capital). Enabling the vision by implementing governed execution and portfolio-level Carbon Intensity tracking to ensure long-term strategic transformation. Results (100 – 200 Words) Risk Management Foundation: The framework first addresses Carbon Intensity as a strategic risk. Establishing a clear target Carbon Intensity state and mapping the baseline identifies high-Carbon Intensity risk assets. Carbon Intensity-weighted screening criteria explicitly filter targets based on their risk/contribution profile before significant portfolio activity. Integrating Carbon Intensity for Commercial Value: Rigorous due diligence quantifies the Carbon Intensity impact of potential opportunities and associated carbon costs/risks. The valuation explicitly incorporates Carbon Intensity factors and carbon pricing (e.g. AUD$50−70/tCO2e), demonstrating how lower Carbon Intensity contributes directly to commercial attractiveness (∼AUD$86MM portfolio net present value, NPV, in the case study). This links decarbonisation to near-term financial evaluation and positions the portfolio for long-term access to debt/capital markets. Governed Execution for Long-Term Vision: The framework aligns Carbon Intensity-focused portfolio transformation with corporate investment governance, requiring proposals to articulate Carbon Intensity reduction contributions alongside financial justification. Approved transactions are sequenced onto a transformation roadmap, enabling board-level stewardship beyond short executive tenures. AI-driven portfolio management systems provide ongoing visibility and action nudging, tracking actual Carbon Intensity reduction against the target pathway and verifying the realised financial value, ensuring strategic goals translate into sustained results – a long-term perspective inherent to successful major energy companies. Novelty (25 – 75 words) This paper presents a practical framework for proactively managing portfolio carbon intensity transformation. By embedding Carbon Intensity as a core risk and value driver within screening, due diligence, valuation, and long-term governance – demonstrated through the composite case study achieving a ∼30% abatement pathway with positive NPV – operators can identify and execute the most commercially attractive transactions to meet significant targets, effectively transforming their asset base for sustained value creation in a lower-carbon future.

Abstract Current food production challenges of soil degradation, rising demand, and climate change require a more holistic approach to crop nutrition. Scalable, multi‐nutrient fertilizers that can enhance yield and reduce nutrient losses are a promising solution. Polyhalite is a natural mineral containing potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), and sulfur (S) that has multiple agronomic benefits. The main objective of this study was to combine evidence from hundreds of trials across different soils, crop species, and environments to quantify the yield response to polyhalite. Factors affecting the yield response to polyhalite, including soil K and S availability and crop species, were investigated. To compare polyhalite's performance with conventional fertilizers, we contrasted the results of restricted maximum likelihood meta‐analysis, with and without the exclusion of outliers, with simpler comparisons of means and medians. The data included 921 replicated trials conducted on 47 crops across 33 countries over 10 years. Fertilizer programs based on polyhalite outperformed conventional fertilizers, with a 6.6% yield increase over nitrogen + phosphorus (NP) and 3.2% over nitrogen + phosphorus + potassium (NPK) controls for all the trials. For the trials that were responsive to K or S, this increase was 12.2% over NP and 4.8% over NPK controls. Polyhalite increased yields over NP control by 3.8%–16.3% across different crops, with the highest responses of 16.3% in sugarcane ( Saccharum officinarum L.), 12.5% in vegetables, and 9.5% in potatoes ( Solanum tuberosum L.). These results demonstrated polyhalite's consistent yield enhancement benefits as compared with conventional fertilizers across a range of soils, crops, and geographies.

Abstract This paper details the importance and value derived from a real-time process twin model for one of the world's largest operating CO2 sequestration projects. The model provides real-time monitoring and forecasting of key flow assurance parameters, including pressures, temperatures, densities, and impurity concentrations throughout the CO2 system. The process twin serves as a vital operational tool, guiding operators to mitigate risks associated with water dropout and rapid corrosion during shut-in conditions. The operators can potentially extend the time to react to an unplanned shut down or trip, saving significant daily operational costs. The real-time process twin model has been calibrated against years of field data under varying conditions. It incorporates ambient factors, CO2 impurity concentrations, and instrumentation data to predict operating conditions across the pipeline network. Additionally, the model provides virtual metering as a contingency for injection well flow meters, ensuring accurate flow monitoring in circumstances where physical metering is lost. Efforts taken to validate the model against the real field data revealed that the initial conditions significantly influence the model's predictive accuracy; even minor variations in temperature or pressure can lead to drastically different outcomes. The model successfully matched observed pressures and temperatures during an actual field shutdown event, underscoring its reliability due to thorough calibration and consideration of heat transfer dynamics. As the amount of heat stored in the soil depends on the operating conditions weeks prior to the shutdown event, the importance of a real-time model, rather than relying solely on an offline engineering simulator, is highlighted. The findings demonstrate that the model can effectively forecast system behavior, providing operators with critical insights and response times for unplanned shutdowns. This paper contributes novel insights on the importance of a real-time model for CO2 transport through field validation and sensitivity analyses involving changes in impurity concentrations, heat transfer properties, and initial system pressures and temperatures. These analyses create a comprehensive catalog of results that enhances understanding of the factors influencing CO2 transport and sequestration, thereby ensuring the ongoing success of future decarbonization projects.

Abstract ASME B16.9 is the standard for butt-weld fittings which are used extensively in all kinds of pressure piping systems. ASME B16.9 governs aspects of fitting geometry such as surface contours, end preparation and provides requirement with respect to ASME B36.10 or ASME B36.19 nominal diameter and nominal wall thicknesses at ends to be as specified by purchaser. It also specifies the positions of welding ends with respect to the centerline of fittings or the overall dimension of the fittings enabling standardization which ensures their fitment in a piping system. Fittings are designed in accordance with section 2 which has no restrictions on the upper limit for fitting thickness away from the ends, straight end lengths, or crotch radius etc. These dimensions can be critically important to two aspects of pressure piping system design; process design which calculates the pressure drop through these fittings and strength design which calculates the stresses in the piping system. A common example of piping systems where pressure drop is critical are the inlet to pressure safety valves for protecting pressure vessels within the limits of API 520. An example of piping systems where strength design is critical are high temperature piping systems undergoing frequent cycling where stress intensification factors (SIFs) of the fittings are crucial in calculating accurate primary and secondary stresses. From a manufacturing perspective, ASME B16.9 and ASTM standards permit various manufacturing methods. For example, two different manufacturers may have a cold forming or hot forming method for the same fitting; the starting raw material thickness for the fitting may vary. These differences in manufacturing may affect critical fitting dimensions such as crotch thickness and crotch radius of a tee which in turn affect the SIF. This information gap between fitting manufacturers and piping designers results in differences between engineering calculations and actual performance of the installed system. This paper will be useful in educating piping system designers about these gaps and how to address them in design calculations.

Presented on 28 May 2025: Session 22 Wave-dominated deltas are important hosts for global hydrocarbon reserves, containing significant volumes within good quality, laterally extensive sandstone reservoirs. These deltas often contain an ordered internal architecture with predictable facies distribution patterns identified at a detailed scale in outcrops such as the Cretaceous Blackhawk Formation of the Book Cliffs, Utah, USA. This predictability can be utilised to support reservoir characterisation and modelling in subsurface regions with limited well control and only seismic scale resolution, reducing risk and uncertainty in predicting hydrocarbon volumes. This study illustrates how detailed seismic mapping and attribute extractions were used to refine a sequence stratigraphic framework for a wave-dominated shoreline in the Gippsland Basin. The natural cyclicity of progradational, aggradational and transgressive systems was captured in this assessment, interpreted to have been driven by autocyclic switching, influenced by fluvial input and active extensional tectonism, reworked by waves. Integration of this detailed sequence stratigraphic framework with world class analogues was used to inform facies distributions, supporting predictions for reservoir distribution and quality away from well control. To access the Oral Presentation click the link on the right. To read the full paper click here

The Galactic 2D Seismic Imaging Study (November 2023–June 2024) sought to assess and understand what is achievable as of today and what may soon be achievable when exploring in geophysically challenging shallow-water marine regions with 2D seismic data of limited quality – in this instance, using data acquired over one such region offshore Australia’s Northern Territory. This was approached first by comparing the outputs of a commercially available state-of-the-art depth-imaging workflow as applied by four seismic processing services companies (Phase 1). Whilst broadly in agreement, the outputs of this first exercise vary significantly in some respects. An anonymised subset of the deliverables was independently assessed by a group of seismic interpreters to provide the perspective of the end user, where no one set of deliverables was found to clearly outperform the others in all aspects. These results were then contrasted against a suite of novel but under-development approaches to seismic imaging and model building, as applied by two tech startups and two academic groups (Phase 2). Whilst the potential for several of these promising technologies to either reduce cost, shorten turnaround, or improve imaging quality has been previously demonstrated when working with deep-water data, the outputs generated suggest that the additional challenges that shallow-water data entail necessitate further development before any of them might potentially supersede conventional workflows.

The prevalence of global hydrocarbon production facilities creates enormous potential for equipment repurposing and life extension through conversion into carbon transport and storage facilities. This could extend the serviceable life of existing assets nearing the end of their production cycle, with the possibility of reducing the burden of new capital infrastructure for CO2 transport and storage through the repurposing of existing infrastructure. The paper highlights the key regulatory approvals for the requalification of offshore hydrocarbon production pipeline infrastructure for use with CO2 transport and permanent storage. It identifies the requirements of DNV-RP-F104 and AS 2885, as they relate to an Australian regulatory context. The paper describes a structured approach towards the requalification of a pipeline system for change of service to CO2, including the timing of requalification actions such as technical studies and mechanical tests. Specifically, it discusses the technical challenges for ensuring safety, material suitability, and component qualification for CO2, as well as identifying requisite new infrastructure and the potential challenges of modifications and repairs, pre-commissioning, first fill and injection processes.