Oil major BP could be on a collision course with environmental groups as a mammoth rig makes its way from a Korean shipyard to the Great Australian Bight.
The oil major is currently leasing the rig which measures 36 storeys high, 120metres long and 80metres wide, for $580,000 a day.
The conservation group the Sea Shepherd and its vessel, the Steve Irwin, are also making their way to same patch of ocean as the rig.
According to The Australian, BP hopes to begin drilling exploration wells up to 2.5km deep over the coming summer.
The plans by BP have been criticised by environmentalists after it was discovered the company’s drilling sites are within a marine reserve.
Later this month, it will resubmit a third draft of an environmental plan to the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority.
The company has already identified two specific well locations.
Claire Fitzpatrick, BP’s managing director for exploration and production, said: “We are looking forward to exploring in the Great Australian Bight and testing the prospectivity there, but as this is exploration we don’t yet know what we might find.
“If we do find something, it could create an economic option for South Australia.”