Jadestone prepares to take over Montara oil field after completion of works

Asia Pacific-focussed oil and gas production company Jadestone Energy announced the completion of works required for the restart of production from the Montara oil field, offshore Australia, on Friday, following an “extensive” maintenance and inspection shutdown.

The AIM-traded firm said work was now completed, and the facilities were undergoing the final stages of pressure testing to ensure asset integrity and a safe restart of production.

It said the oil train had been successfully leak tested, and the gas train was now being tested so that both could start together, enabling immediate gas-lift and gas re-injection so as to optimise production operations “as rapidly as possible”.

The documentation required to lift the various improvement notices, prohibition notice and direction letter issued by the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) was said to be in the process of being evaluated by the regulator to allow the facility to reintroduce hydrocarbons.

That close-out was anticipated “within days”, according to the board.

The conclusion of the maintenance and inspection activity would result in improved facility reliability and uptime going forwards, resulting in no major planned shutdowns until at least the second half of 2020, Jadestone said.

Both itself and PTTEP were continuing to manage the asset under the terms of the operator and transitional services agreement, whereby PTTEP - as the duty holder under the currently in-force safety case - continued to operate the Montara assets, while all critical leadership positions in the operation were now filled with Jadestone secondees, the board said.

In the meantime, the regulator was reviewing Jadestone's recently-submitted Montara safety case and environment plan.

Upon acceptance of those, the regulator would then permit the transfer of operatorship to Jadestone.

“I'm pleased that the shutdown of the Montara assets has been safely concluded, which now completes all overdue inspection and maintenance items which we identified during the initial weeks after closing the transaction with PTTEP,” said Jadestone Energy president and chief executive officer Paul Blakeley.

“During the shutdown, Montara personnel logged more than 9,000 hours of work, all executed without a single safety incident.”

Blakeley said that was “a testament” to the calibre of expertise on the asset and the leadership Jadestone had now seconded into the Montara organisation, as well as a “key early step” towards embedding the Jadestone operating philosophy and safety culture on the asset.

“In addition to resolving the regulatory non-compliance notices, which in our view now safeguards the integrity and reliability of the Montara assets, we have worked closely with NOPSEMA - the offshore regulator - to satisfy their concerns as laid out in Direction Notice 0732, and are waiting for their final support to a full restart of production.”