Does it make sense for BHP to be in the oil & gas business? I worked on a project in 1969 moving a drilling package from the Halibut platform to the KingfishB platform. The field in Bass Straight off southern Ausrtalia was supplying most of Australia's needs back then. It is a 50/50 Exxon/BHP partnership with Exxon as the operator. Oil and gas is nothing new for BHP.