Malaysia’s FPSO player Bumi Armada has started a court action in Australia against the oil and gas company Woodside over an FPSO contract termination that Bumi Armada claims was unlawful.

To remind, after receiving a notice of contract termination from the Australian oil and gas company Woodside for the FPSO Armada Claire on March 4, Bumi Armada served a counter notice to Woodside on March 11. The vessel owner also said it reserved the right to claim damages against Woodside for its breach of the contract.

Bumi Armada’s subsidiary, Armada Balnaves, on Monday, March 14, 2016, filed a writ of summons in the Supreme Court of Western Australia regarding Woodside’s contract termination for the floating, production, supply and offloading vessel Armada Claire, operating on the Balnaves field offshore Australia since 2014.

According to the parent company, Armada Balnaves is claiming for a declaration that the contract was repudiated by Woodside purporting to terminate the contract by issuing the notice of termination dated March 4, 2016 to Armada Balnaves; damages for breach of contract in respect of such repudiation, the amount of which will be quantified at a later stage; the additional sum of $66.2 million for work done and materials supplied pursuant to the contract; and interest, costs and such other relief as the Court may think fit.

Armada Balnaves signed the contract with Apache Energy for the provision of an FPSO unit for the Balnaves field, in September 2011, and that contract was novated to Woodside in May 2015 after Woodside bought Apache’s 65% interest in the field.

The contract was for an initial fixed term charter of four years expiring in August 2018, with options for four annual extensions.

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