A New Endeavour

In what is a first step into the decommissioning world for Monadelphous, our team set foot aboard the Northern Endeavour in September.  

Decommissioning is the process of closing oil and gas wells and removing or repurposing infrastructure.  

Located approximately 550 kilometres West Northwest of Darwin and 250 kilometres East Southeast from Kupang in West Timor, the Northern Endeavour FPSO was commissioned back in November 1999 and is a purpose-built, non-propelled barge designed to extract, process, store and offload oil from the Laminaria and Corallina reservoirs. 

Currently the Floating Production Storage and Offtake facility (FPSO) is in “non-production mode” with the facility depressurised and all wells shut in with Subsurface Safety Valves closed. 

Phase 1 of the Northern Endeavour FPSO decommissioning is now underway, including a wide scope of works such as inspection and repair of towing points, tank remediation and fabric maintenance activities.  

Project Manager Wang Wei Lau said that it is a significant project for the business and the team have already been receiving great feedback. 

“We have a highly capable and hard-working team on board who have been doing an exemplary job and the customer is pleased with the progress so far,” he said.  

“The work is significant for us as it is a trailblazing project and successful execution will put us in front of the pack for future opportunities in decommissioning. 

“The decommissioning industry in Australia is relatively young and it’s predicted that there will be an increase in these activities over the next few decades due to age of assets and changing of market conditions. 

“Strategically for the business, it’s been a big positive and we have been forging strong relationships within a new type of market.” 

Our team have been rising to the challenge and keeping HSE in the forefront, they’ve already received positive feedback on their work from a Senior HSE Advisor on board, who said that it has been “a breath of fresh air” to see the team operating to a high standard intuitively.  

“The team have picked up the ball and run with it, with excellent participation in all HSE related reporting, work site awareness, adherence to permit conditions and the control of all hazardous situations with realistic mitigations,” they said. 

Well done to the team – we look forward to sharing more as the project progresses.