The Barry Beach Marine Terminal is the main supply depot and a critical lifeline for the offshore oil and gas operations in Bass Strait.

Located approximately 240km south east of Melbourne, near Port Welshpool in South Gippsland, Barry Beach can operate seven days a week and each year transports thousands of tonnes of food, supplies, fuel and equipment to the 21 offshore platforms and installations.

Supply vessels based at Barry Beach Marine Terminal service the platforms and installations in Bass Strait. The vessels are owned by a third party and contracted to ExxonMobil on an ongoing basis.

The vessels operate 24 hours a day and move between platforms loading and unloading cargo. They are equipped with specialised navigational equipment and propulsion systems which allow them to operate close to the offshore platforms.

Around 50% of the cargo delivered to the platforms are bulk products essential for drilling and oil and gas production - diesel, water, glycol, barites and cement. These are carried in below deck tanks. The balance of cargo is food (see below for further information), machinery and general cargo needed to support and maintain the offshore platforms and installations. This cargo is transported on deck packed in specially designed containers.

Every now and then specialist vessels are contracted to work from Barry Beach. Anchor handling vessels or large tugs are used to move mobile offshore drilling rigs. Diving support vessels, massive barges to carry pipe or steel jackets and, vessels to lay pipelines are often required for offshore construction projects.

The warehouse at Barry Beach stocks around 5000 different items and has separate storage areas for most classes of dangerous goods.

The wharf at Barry Beach is more than 360 metres long and uses a 110 tonne pedestal crane to lift the cargo.

Food Deliveries to our Bass Strait Platforms

Up to 300 personnel and contractors are living and working offshore in Bass Strait at any one time.

The offshore platforms operate 24 hours a day and have fully equipped kitchens staffed by qualified cooks who serve thousands of meals each year. Like the rest of the platform, the kitchens operate 24 hours a day.

Each platform receives a food delivery from Barry Beach once a week. A specialist catering firm is contracted to provide all food services including ordering, logistics and catering.

Food destined for the offshore platforms is first delivered by refrigerated truck to the specialist food shed at Barry Beach. From there it is packed into three types of food containers - frozen, chilled (for fresh fruit and vegetables, milk, etc) and dry goods.

Onboard the supply vessels the containers are plugged into special connections to keep the food at the required temperatures.

Pipes and Tubing

Offshore platforms require hundreds of kilometres of metal pipes and tubing for both drilling and ongoing oil and gas production.

At any one time Barry Beach stores several thousand lengths of pipe and tubing of various sizes.

Production tubing, sometimes known as the production "string", is the inner pipe up which the oil, gas and water flow. It is made up of 9.6m long "joints" of tubing which are screwed together and run into the hole by the drilling rig. Tubing used in Bass Strait wells varies in size between 5 and 18 centimetres in diameter.

Larger diameter pipes are also used for casing in wells. Casing is permanently installed in a well during the drilling phase and is cemented in place. Casing sizes vary between 18 and 33 centimetres in diameter.

As the pipes are stored outside it is important that they are thoroughly cleaned and serviced before being shipped out to the platforms for use. The pipeshed at Barry Beach cleans and services approximately 1500 joints each month.

Escape Capsule Training

All offshore platforms are equipped with Escape Capsules. These capsules are sophisticated, fireproof, self-propelled liferafts and would be used in the unlikely event that personnel were required to evacuate a platform.

As part of its strict safety requirements ExxonMobil requires that all regular offshore workers complete safety training in the use of the capsules.

This training is conducted in the fully equipped training centre at Barry Beach.

Offshore Platform Construction

Between 1967 and 1986 fourteen offshore platforms were constructed at Barry Beach.

At times between 300 and 400 construction workers lived on site in a specially constructed hostel and up to three platforms could be under construction at any one time.

An offshore platform serves as a base for drilling, and later, oil and gas production and processing facilities. Platforms are designed to be capable of withstanding forces imposed by a '100 year wave', that is, the maximum wave likely to occur in Bass Strait once in a hundred years.

During design of the original platforms in the late 1960's long term weather data for Bass Strait was limited, but the 100 year wave was estimated to be in excess of 18 metres from trough to crest, with a crest elevation of about 14 metres above mean sea level. Wind forces and weight of the structure including all drilling and production equipment, were also taken into account in designing the platforms.