TotalEnergies is tendering for work for the disconnection, removal and recycling of the Gryphon Alpha FPSO stationed off Shetland in 2025.
Tender opportunities submitted through the North Sea Transition Authority’s Pathfinder database show the Paris-listed supermajor (PAR:TTE) is now looking for a contractor to handle the vessel’s removal and decommissioning, some 30 years after the field began production.
Located in UKCS Block 9/18 the Gryphon field lies approximately 100 miles southeast of Shetland, and has been in production since 1993.
Alongside Gryphon, the eponymous Gryphon Alpha FPSO hosts subsea tiebacks from the Maclure and Tullich fields – where production started in 2001 and 2002 respectively – as well as Ballindaloch in Block 9, with first production achieved in 2019.
Subsea wells produce via a series of manifolds and risers linked to FPSO turret. Gas is exported via a pipeline to Beryl A and through the Scottish Area Gas Evacuation (SAGE) system to St Fergus.
In its Pathfinder filings, TotalEnergies said it is now tendering and open to collaboration opportunities for work to make safe, disconnect, tow away and recycle the 257m long floating facility – believed to be the UK’s longest serving permanently-moored FPSO.
An exact date for cessation and sailaway is yet to be determined, and a Decommissioning Programme has not yet been filed with regulator OPRED.
A TotalEnergies spokesperson said: “We informed staff working on and for the Gryphon FPSO last month that, following 30 years of production, the vessel will sail away in 2025 to a specialized yard to be recycled.”
“Staff affected by this news were informed of the decision during dedicated briefing sessions held onshore and offshore. Our focus remains on ensuring safe operations until sail away.”
Work scope
Worth over £25m, the decommissioning scope includes diving support for pipeline and manifold flushing, tree disconnection and flushing of the main pipelines linked to the vessel.
Other elements include work-class ROV capabilities; a recovery spread for riser recovery including crane capability; tugs for station keeping and an anchor handling vessel (AHV) for disconnection of the moorings from the FPSO – and to recover its ten anchors and moorings from the seabed.
Once disconnected, tugs will be required to tow the Gryphon Alpha to a recycling facility to a UK/EU approved ship recycling facility for onshore cleaning, recycling and disposal.
The FPSO is double hulled with ballast tanks segregating the cargo storage tanks from the sea, with capacity onboard to store up to 540,000 barrels.
The French energy giant holds an 86.5% operating interest in the asset, alongside Sojitz Energy Development (13.5%).
In 2011 Gryphon was put into dry-dock for extensive upgrades following damage sustained during a storm, and production was later restarted in May 2013.
FPSO farewells
The proposed contract would mark the latest in a string of awards for the removal of North Sea FPSOs, though few UK contractors have secured work.
Last year the Foinaven and Curlew vessels were sent to Denmark and Norway, respectively, though efforts are underway in the Cromarty Firth to overhaul the former Hummingbird Spirt ahead of its redeployment as the “Excalibur”, to serve Ping Petroleum’s Avalon development.
Commenting on the former case, one UK contractor lamented sending the Foinaven “hundreds of miles abroad to a yard in Europe” rather than to its site just 20 miles away from where the ship was demobilised at Hunterston.
Meanwhile Dana Petroleum recent set a date next spring for the end of production at its western Isles FPSO.
The TotalEnergies tender closes on Friday 18 August.
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