Offshore services provider DeepOcean has been awarded a “significant” decommissioning contract from an international operator on the UK continental shelf.
DeepOcean said the contract award is a “significant milestone” for its Aberdeen office, which will oversee project management and engineering operations.
Offshore operations are scheduled to commence during 2024, with the campaign spanning 120 days across five sub-campaigns.
DeepOcean said the recycling project includes the recovery of concrete mattresses, spools, flexibles, flowlines, jumpers, suction anchor, multiple structures and final debris clearance.
The Oslo-headquartered firm will also complete a subsea rock installation campaign as part of final seabed remediation.
DeepOcean will deploy its Edda Freya vessel and two moonpool launched Kystdesign remotely operated vehicles for the contract, alongside the Normand Jarstein vessel.
After recovery, DeepOcean said it will transport and offload all items onshore for reuse, recycling or disposal.
DeepOcean UK commercial manager and legal counsel Gary Scott said the contract award reflects the company’s “proficiency in executive complex subsea projects”.
The company did not specify the international operator or the platform involved in the contract, or where the firm will offload the recovered items.
The UK contract follows DeepOcean’s completion of another significant decommissioning project at the Dunlin Alpha platform last year.
UK decommissioning activity
The DeepOcean comes after North Sea operator Shell put multiple decommissioning contracts out to tender last week.
According to data from the North Sea Transition Authority’s (NSTA’s) Pathfinder database, this includes four tenders covering the group’s Brent Field.
Shell is seeking contractors to remove multiple pieces of infrastructure, including gravity-based steel structures, the anchor block from the field, and trenching pipelines.
All the contracts have estimated tender dates of 30 October and values of under £25m.
The Brent field is located in block 211/29 in the North Sea and has been producing since 1976.
The field’s Delta platform was the first to cease production, stopping at the end of 2011 and the topside removed in May 2017.
The Alpha and Bravo platforms ceased production in November 2014, with the Bravo topside removed in June 2019 and Alpha in June 2020.
Brent Charlie ceased production in May 2022 and subsequently has been downstaff in October 2023. The current schedule is to remove and dismantle the Brent Charlie Topside in 2024.
In total, Shell will need to plug and decommission 146 wells at the Brent field.
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