BW Offshore gets termination notice for New Zealand FPSO

A contract for the BW Offshore-owned FPSO Umuroa, operating offshore New Zealand, has been terminated. 

BW Offshore said on Monday it had been notified by the client Tamarind Resources that the contract for the FPSO Umuroa, currently operating on the Tui field offshore New Zealand, would not be extended.

The effective termination date will be December 31, 2019. The FPSO’s previous contract extension, which is set to expire at the end of the year, was agreed in July 2018.

BW Offshore will now start preparing for the demobilization of the unit from the Tui field. The FPSO has been operating on the field since 2007.

The Tui Area Oil Project constitutes three fields, Tui, Amokura, and Pateke, which started production on July 30, 2007, and produce from four horizontal wells flowing to the FPSO Umuroa. The oil is processed on the Umuroa before being exported via export tankers destined for refineries on Australia’s eastern seaboard. The FPSO has a storage capacity of 700,000 barrels of stabilized crude oil.

The Tui area was previously operated by AWE until Tamarind took over operatorship in March 2017.

In related news, Tamarind in September 2019 reportedly put its New Zealand offshore drilling plans to a halt after being unable to reach an agreement with offshore drilling contractor COSL.