Malaysian contractor to apply final touches on controversial offshore decommissioning project

The controversial Tui offshore oilfield decommissioning project in New Zealand is entering its final stage with Malaysian contractor Sapura Energy tasked with removing the last of the subsea structures.

The controversy over Tui began about three years ago when field owner Tamarind Taranaki, a subsidiary of Malaysia’s Tamarind Resources, became financially insolvent.

The New Zealand government then had to take responsibility and bear the full cost of the field’s decommissioning, with no prior experience of capability in oilfield decommissioning.