Jadestone Energy has restarted production at the Montara oil field after a shutdown for maintenance and inspection dating back to November 2018.
The independent oil and gas company announced that operations had restarted at the field, located offshore north-west Australia, on January 11 and that production volumes would be ramped up while final checks are concluded.
The entire facility will be restarted, including both the oil production system and the gas system, which enables gas-lift and gas re-injection so as to optimise production operations as rapidly as possible.
“The conclusion of this maintenance and inspection activity will 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.
PTTEP Australasia, as the previous owner of the Montara assets, has agreed to provide US$22 million to Jadestone in relation to this recent shutdown, including associated costs, of which approximately US$4 million was directly attributable to shutdown work scope.
The company said Jadestone and PTTEP are 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, continues to operate the Montara assets, with all critical operations leadership positions now filled with Jadestone personnel who have been formally seconded into the PTTEP organisation.
In the meantime, the regulator is reviewing Jadestone’s recently submitted Montara safety case and environment plan. Upon approval, the regulator will permit the transfer of operatorship to Jadestone.
Paul Blakeley, President and CEO commented: “I’m delighted to see production operations safely resume at the Montara asset and pleased that the work we have completed alleviates the need for any further major planned outages until at least late 2020.
“Catching up on Montara’s overdue inspection and maintenance tasks and resolving the regulatory non-compliance notices was a prudent step early in Jadestone’s experience with Montara, and serves to enhance the asset’s value.”
