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EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil

UK approves more North Sea

decomm plans

UK THE UK government has cleared plans for the Alpha, North Cormorant and Tern fields in
decommissioning of two North Sea fields, its December 2008, under a deal with Shell UK and
The decommissioning Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Esso Exploration and Production.
of both fields was Strategy (BEIS) said in online notices during the Cormorant Alpha is also undergoing decom-
decided on before this past week. missioning. In late May, Taqa said it had hired
year. Norwegian oil services firm Archer to plug and
Eider abandon the field’s 21 wells. Archer’s rig should
The government has approved proposals filed arrive at the site in the second half of 2021.
in December by the UAE’s Taqa for the decom- “The combination of significant experience
missioning of topsides at the 32-year-old Eider in facilities brownfield engineering combined
platform in the North Sea, BEIS said. with our integrated rope access and construction
Taqa intends to remove the 11,600-tonne top- teams will allow Archer to execute the project
sides, first installed in 1988, using a crane lifting without [the] use of a heavy-lift vessel,” Archer
vessel between 2022 and 2028, with 2024-2026 said.
stated as the most likely window. They will be
moved to shore for re-use, recycling or disposal. Cavendish
Production at Eider was halted last year and The government also signed off on a plan sub-
the platform is currently operating in utility mitted by the UK’s Ineos for the decommission-
mode, supplying power to facilities at the nearby ing of the Cavendish gas and condensate filed in
Otter subsea field. the southern North Sea.
Separate plans for the Eider substructure, Cavendish’s unmanned platform is tied back
including its four legs and steel jacket, are to the Murdoch platform 44 km to the south-
expected to be filed in 2021, followed by propos- east, from where its supplies were exported to
als for associated pipelines, power cables and the shore via pipeline. Production was halted in
Otter tieback. August 2018 after this export route was shut
Otter itself is slated to cease production in the down.
fourth quarter of 2023. Under Ineos’ plan, the platform’s 546-tonne
Eider flowed 188mn barrels of oil equiva- topsides and 508-tonne steel jacket will be
lent (boe) in its lifetime. These volumes were removed and recycled or disposed of on land. Its
exported to the nearby North Cormorant plat- pipeline to Murdoch will be partially removed,
form and then shipped to the Sullom Voe termi- with some buried parts left in place. Its three
nal in Shetland via the Brent pipeline. wells will be plugged and abandoned.
According to the submitted plans, Taqa did The decommissioning work had been sched-
not see re-use as a credible option for the Eider uled to commence last year but Ineos only filed
platform, because of a lack of demand, its dis- its plans in October. It is expected to take five
tance to shore and the age of the infrastructure. years to complete, depending on the availability
Taqa acquired Eider with the Cormorant of contractor vessels and equipment. ™

Week 22 04•June•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P17