The first offshore facilities to be decommissioned in Great Yarmouth on the east coast of England are due to start arriving in Spring this year.
A partnership between Veolia and Peterson partnership has been awarded two platform decommissioning contracts for recycling at their facility in Great Yarmouth.
The work will cover disposal options for a number of production complex and surrounding satellite platforms currently about 40mi off the coast of Great Yarmouth. Recycling is expected to start this year and will take around four years to complete.
Decommissioning in the southern North Sea is ramping up. The basin was the first to find commercial hydrocarbons, in the mid-1960s, with fields coming online not long after.
Perenco is currently working on the decommissioning of its Thames gas condensate field, and associated tie-ins. The Thames complex comprises of a three-jacket compression station and interfield pipelines, subsea wells and platform wells.
Meanwhile, further offshore, ConocoPhillips is working on a large decommissioning program covering its Viking fields satellites, plus interfield pipelines. Work started in June 2014, with the Ensco 92 jackup rig starting plugging and abandonment works.
Simon Davies, Decommissioning General Manager of Veolia said: “The industry has been looking for collaboration and these new contracts show collaboration in action right down the supply chain. Our partnership has worked well at a number of sites and projects over the last ten years, and we are very pleased to secure the first important contracts into Great Yarmouth.”
The contractors aim to recycle 96% of the materials. The contracts include the onshore receipt and disposal of offshore materials and several assets for a major gas producer.
Ron van der Laan, Regional Director, Peterson added: “We have been working hard on this development since 2013. These contract awards are a significant milestone and step towards establishing Great Yarmouth as a centre of excellence for decommissioning in the Southern North Sea.”
The partnership is set up to cover the full decommissioning of platforms the services include decontamination, deconstruction, waste management and environmental services together with associated integrated logistics, marine and quayside services. To date the joint venture has recovered over 80,000-tonne of offshore materials. The new works will help create approximately 10 new jobs, with further expansion and employment as the projects develop.
Supported by Peel Ports Great Yarmouth, Local Enterprise Partnership, Great Yarmouth Borough Council and Norfolk County Council the new decommissioning site at Great Yarmouth Outer Harbour aims to establish Great Yarmouth as the centre for decommissioning, and to expand to meet the growing need for this type of work.