Independent Oil and Gas (IOG) has shared impressive pictures of its Blythe platform being loaded onto a transportation barge in the Netherlands.
Taken in Schiedam, the images show the installation, which will form part of IOG’s flagship “Core” project, being hoisted up and lowered onto a vessel along with the mono-pile.
Adjacent to it is another barge which is carrying the Southwark platform, which is also destined for the natural gas field.
Final preparations are due to be made before the two installations set sail for Core in the Southern North Sea, IOG said.
Both platforms were constructed at the HSM Offshore yard in Schiedam, which is located in the Rotterdam-The Hague region.
IOG previously said the onshore commissioning and testing activities were due to be completed this month.
Installation of Blythe and Southwark, both of which will usually be unmanned, is scheduled for completion before the end of Q2, in preparation for first gas in late Q3.
Core is a multi-phase development made up of several different discoveries.
It’s thought to contain around 410 billion cubic feet of gas, which will be transported onshore using the Thames pipeline.
Drilling on the field got underway last month using Noble’s Hans Deul jack-up rig.
The Elgood development well, the first of five planned as part of the Phase 1 project, was spudded at 17:30 on April 9.