North Sea operator EnQuest has confirmed its Thistle platform will be sent to an Aker Solutions yard in Norway for dismantling, some time from 2025 onward.
The Norwegian engineering giant announced on Friday it had secured a major decommissioning award for the dismantling and recycling of an unnamed platform topside and jacket in the North Sea area.
EnQuest (LON:ENQ) confirmed to Energy Voice on Monday the contract relates to the removal of its Thistle Alpha platform, though did not offer any further comment on the award.
Aker Solutions said it intends to recycle “close to 98%” of the recovered structures, which include a 19,000-tonne topside and a steel jacket weighing around 10,000 tonnes.
Saipem confirmed in May that it had secured a contract covering the engineering, preparation, removals and disposal works for the asset, located about 125 miles north-east of Shetland.
Petrofac was also brought in as a subcontractor to support the three-year project ahead of a removal campaign which will use the semi-submersible heavy-lift vessel Saipem 7000.
Saipem will then deliver the topsides as modules during a period from 2025 to 2027. The jacket will be delivered in two sections plus some minor items, Aker said.
“Decommissioning is a growing market. This award adds to an order backlog that already stretches to 2030, and provides further predictability so that we can continue to develop our facility and execution model, with a strong focus on safe operations and capability to deliver a high degree of recycling,” said its SVP for decom Thomas Nygård.
Earlier this month the group posted footage of the dismantling of the Gyda installation’s living quarters and helideck using explosives at its yard in Stord in Western Norway.
Thistle history
The Thistle field was discovered in 1972, in the fourth UK acreage licensing round.
Its jacket was installed in 1976 in water depth of 162 metres, with the topside – which consists of 34 modules – added the next year.
Oil production kicked off in February 1978 and lasted more than forty years, with the then-Oil and Gas Authority rubber-stamping a cessation of production request in September 2020.
Brits abroad
Thistle is the latest of EnQuest’s UK platforms to be sent overseas for dismantling and recycling.
In August, the company confirmed Modern American Recycling Services Europe (MARS) in Frederikshavn, Denmark, would handle the onshore break-up of Heather Alpha topsides after it secured a subcontract from Allseas.
It follows similar awards for BP’s Foinaven FPSO and Teekay’s Banff FPSO, which were also sent to the Danish yard, to the chagrin of some domestic contractors.
That is despite industry’s commitment to a voluntary 50% local content target across the lifecycle of energy projects, including for decommissioning.
Last year Energy Voice reported that British yards have won the majority of dismantling work so far – taking on 26 of the 39 oil and gas assets removed between 2018-2021 – though that total has shifted in recent years.
Meanwhile, recent estimates from the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) suggest that UK suppliers made up around 70% of the £2.2bn worth of supply chain plans lodged last year, as local firms continue to lead the delivery of other parts of the decommissioning process.
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