Woodside Energy removes Nganhurra riser turret mooring

Woodside Energy has removed the Nganhurra riser turret mooring off the WA coast, marking the end of a long-running headache for environmental activists and regulators. Woodside on Thursday said the 83-metre RTM, located about 16km from the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef, had been safely and successfully lifted onto a barge off North West Cape. The heavy-lift vessel Heerema Aegir, with three supporting tugs, lifted the 2500-tonne RTM onto a 120m barge. The structure is now transiting to the Australian Marine Complex near Perth, where it will be cleaned and deconstructed in preparation for recycling and reuse. The structure has remained standing almost five years after it was abandoned when Woodside ceased extracting oil at Enfield in November 2018. The RTM kept the floating production storage and offtake facility in position, and acted as a channel for fluids to come onboard for processing. The RTM in the past has been targeted by Greenpeace, with the environmental activist group earlier this year slapping anti-gas logos on the structure and calling for its removal. Woodside said the removal of the RTM was a significant milestone and further demonstrated the company’s ability to manage activities in the sensitive marine environments where it operates. “The decommissioning concept for the Nganhurra RTM was matured over more than two years of careful planning and detailed engineering, undertaken in conjunction with a range of specialist contractors,” it said in a statement. Woodside said more than 95 per cent of the RTM would be recycled or re-used.