This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 15, 2016.

KUALA LUMPUR: Bumi Armada Bhd has filed a suit in Australia against Woodside Energy Julimar Pty Ltd over the termination of its Armada Claire floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) contract.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, Bumi Armada said its wholly-owned subsidiary Armada Balvanes Pte Ltd (ABPL) filed its writ of summons in the Supreme Court of Western Australia.

ABPL is seeking a declaration that the contract was repudiated by Woodside purporting to terminate the contract by issuing the notice of termination dated March 4 to ABPL.

It is also seeking damages for alleged breach of contract over the repudiation, the amount of which will be quantified at a later stage, and an additional sum of US$66.19 million (RM272.04 million) for work done and materials supplied pursuant to the contract.

Last week, Bumi Armada accused Woodside of invalidating the FPSO contract after the Australian company delivered the termination notice. Subsequently, ABPL issued its own termination notice to Woodside.

The FPSO unit had been operating in the Balnaves Field, off north-western Australia, since August 2014.

Bumi Armada said the contract’s termination was expected to impact the full-year 2016 financial results of the group.