Australia’s government has appointed Zenith Energy Australia as lead contractor for Phase 2 of the Northern Endeavour decommissioning program in the Timor Sea.

Zenith Energy will lead the project management, engineering and delivery of Phase 2, which involves the permanent plug and abandonment (P&A) of nine subsea wells across the Laminaria-Corallina oil fields, ensuring their long-term integrity.

The Northern Endeavour program was set up to ensure safe decommissioning of the former Northern Endeavour offshore production facilities and associated subsea infrastructure.

The Laminaria-Corallina development, located in the Timor Sea northwest of Darwin, was among Australia's first deepwater oil projects. The Northern Endeavour FPSO was removed under Phase 1 of the government's decommissioning program, with well abandonment representing one of the most technically complex and costly stages of the overall project.

Its full scope of work includes detailed well engineering, development of execution plans, regulatory approvals and acceptances, management of the offshore P&A campaign, storage and transportation of recovered infrastructure and materials, and field monitoring through to handover for Phase 3 of the decommissioning program.