The Australian Government has confirmed that the Northern Endeavour floating production storage and off take facility (FPSO), and associated oil fields will be decommissioned to remove potential environmental risks.
Australian Resources, Water and Northern Australia Minister Keith Pitt said the government had thoroughly investigated options for the Northern Endeavour and found a decommissioning and remediation process is the most cost-effective way to remove future potential risks to the facility and to ensure protection of the environment.
The government has been responsible for maintaining the Northern Endeavour and associated subsea facilities since February 2020 after its owners, the Northern Oil and Gas Australia (NOGA) group of companies, were placed in liquidation. Northern Endeavour stopped producing oil in 2019.
“The Northern Endeavour is permanently moored in Commonwealth waters in the Timor Sea, between the Laminaria and Corallina oil fields,” Pitt said.
“We have been ensuring the safety of the facility and conducting critical maintenance work since taking responsibility for the facility and will now start the process of decommissioning and remediating the fields.”
The final cost of the decommissioning is yet to be determined, with the government working closely with the offshore oil and gas industry on proposals to recover the costs.
The Australian Government has also opened consultations on a revised policy framework for the offshore oil and gas industries to ensure project developers and operators can safely decommission offshore projects when they come to an end.
The consultation on the framework is part of the government’s offshore oil and gas decommissioning review into the responsibilities of developers and operators.