Kent expands Asia-Pacific presence with new offshore decommissioning advisory role
Kent has been awarded a new technical advisory services contract by the Australian government to support the permanent plugging and abandonment of the Laminaria-Corallina oil fields in the Timor Sea, according to an Aug. 12 Kent news release.
The contract also includes advisory services for the safe removal of associated subsea infrastructure.
This award builds on its existing work on the Northern Endeavour FPSO facility.
Under the initial two-year contract, Kent will deploy a multidisciplinary team of technical and regulatory experts to provide strategic and operational support throughout the planning and execution of the decommissioning phase.
This contract reflects Kent’s expanding footprint in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Australian government recently detailed why and how it is decommissioning the Northern Endeavour FPSO and remediating the Laminaria-Corallina oil fields.
The government reported its 2025 milestones (thus far) as:
- Engaging Modern American Recycling Services Europe (MARS) to recycle the Northern Endeavour FPSO at its ship recycling facility in Frederikshavn, Denmark.
- Successfully disconnecting the FPSO from the Corallina and Laminaria oil fields, cutting eight risers and lowering them to the seabed.
- Contracting COSCO Shipping Heavy Transport (COSCO) to dry tow the Northern Endeavour FPSO vessel to a recycling location using the semisubmersible Hua Rui Long heavy transport vessel.
- Completing the well suspension of seven wells and SURF flushing campaign of nearly 30 km of pipeline with the Sapura Constructor light well intervention vessel.
In addition, it plans to meet the following goals in 2025 and beyond:
- Complete the hull cleaning campaign to remove marine growth from the hull of the FPSO
- Disconnect the FPSO from the mooring chains in preparation for towing
- Tow the FPSO to Singapore for further works before its recycling
- Tow the FPSO to MARS’ ship recycling facility in Frederikshavn, Denmark, for recycling
- Approach the market to deliver Phase 2 and 3 of the program
- Get environmental and regulatory approval to remove the subsea infrastructure
- Remove subsea infrastructure and transport it to shore for reuse or recycling (including flowlines, chains and mooring infrastructure)
- Plug and abandon nine oil wells and remove well infrastructure in the Corallina and Laminaria oil fields to protect the environment
- Remove subsea infrastructure from the oil fields
- Remediate the oil fields
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Ariana Hurtado
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With more than a decade of copy editing, project management and journalism experience, Ariana Hurtado is a seasoned managing editor born and raised in the energy capital of the world—Houston, Texas. She currently serves as editor-in-chief of Offshore, overseeing the editorial team, its content and the brand's growth from a digital perspective.
Utilizing her editorial expertise, she manages digital media for the Offshore team. She also helps create and oversee new special industry reports and revolutionizes existing supplements, while also contributing content to Offshore's magazine, newsletters and website as a copy editor and writer.
Prior to her current role, she served as Offshore's editor and director of special reports from April 2022 to December 2024. Before joining Offshore, she served as senior managing editor of publications with Hart Energy. Prior to her nearly nine years with Hart, she worked on the copy desk as a news editor at the Houston Chronicle.
She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Houston.