The Northern Producer floating production vessel is “expected” to be dismantled at Kishorn, according to the head of decommissioning at EnQuest.
In April the vessel was taken off the EnQuest-operated Dons fields and towed to Kishorn on Scotland’s west coast.
Upon its arrival, Kishorn Port Limited said the Northern Producer, owned by Northern Offshore, would remain on site until arrangments were made for it to be repurposed or decommissioned.
However, speaking recently at the Decom Week conference, EnQuest decommissioning director John Allan said the Northern Producer may have already made its final journey.
He said: “She’s potentially going to be recycled, I’m expecting, at Kishorn. I don’t think North (Northern Offshore) are planning on reusing her. The expectation is she’s going to be recycled.”
Northern Offshore and Kishorn Port Limited have been contacted for comment.
The Northern Producer would mark the first major decommissioning contract for the refurbished drydock in Wester Ross, which was once a construction site for major oil platforms like the Ninian Central in the 1970s.
Kishorn recently received planning permission to extend the drydock in order to accommodate larger decommissioning projects.
Last year, due to it being an emergency, the yard was granted permission to break down the MV Kaami cargo ship which ran aground off the west coast.
Kishorn has been playing host to several vessels as temporary mooring sites, including the Voyageur Spirit FPSO, formerly of the Premier Oil Huntington field.
Last week it was revealed that Ithaca Energy and Hibiscus are weighing options to reuse that vessel for their Marigold/ Yeoman development.
The Banff FPSO, owned by Teekay, spent months moored at Kishorn but last month arrived at Frederikshavn in Denmark for scrapping.
Other major decom projects, such as the Taqa Brae Bravo, is heading to Vats in Norway for dismantling, which union Unite described as a “lost opportunity” for the UK.
Elsewhere, EnQuest has its EnQuest Producer vessel, formerly of the Alma-Galia fields, laid up at Nigg in the Cromarty Firth.
Mr Allan said the firm is “looking at potential buyers” for the asset.
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