Kent bags Northern Endeavour decommissioning gig

The Australian government has enlisted energy services group Kent to provide technical advisory services for the permanent plugging and abandonment of the Laminaria-Corallina oil fields located in the Timor Sea. This contract also encompasses the safe removal of associated subsea infrastructure. Kent’s expertise follows its previous successful work on the decommissioning of the Northern Endeavour floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit.

Contract Details and Background

The newly awarded contract is set for an initial duration of two years, during which Kent will deploy a multidisciplinary team of technical and regulatory experts. Their role will be to offer strategic and operational support throughout the planning and execution phases of the decommissioning process. The FPSO unit, which is currently moored between the Laminaria and Corallina fields, was previously operated by Northern Oil & Gas Australia until the company entered voluntary administration in September 2019. Following this, ownership of the unit was transferred to the Commonwealth of Australia.

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To date, Australia’s Department of Industry has allocated approximately AUD 850 million (around USD 557 million) in contracts for the decommissioning of the Northern Endeavour unit. This figure is significantly higher than the original estimate of AUD 400 million made in 2015. It is important to note that this amount does not include the costs associated with the plugging and abandonment of subsea wells or the removal of seabed equipment. Experts anticipate that the final budget for the entire decommissioning project could reach around USD 1 billion.