Heerema dismantles giant offshore platform
By Leila Steed21 June 2023
Heerema Marine Contractors has completed the removal of a 1,200 t production platform from an offshore oil well, in what was its final large-scale lifting operation for a multi-year decommissioning programme in the North Sea.
Heerema’s Thialf crane vessel. (PHOTO: Heerema)
The company was contracted to the programme by Norwegian oil and gas giant DNO, which has been working to dismantle and remove a total of 24 oil wells in the Schooner, Ketch and Osekvar oil and gas fields since 2019.
Heerema’s scope of works covered the integrated engineering, preparation, removal, and disposal of the offshore well.
The company used a 201 m (659 ft) long, semi-submersible crane vessel - named Thialf - to lift the wellhead production facilities platform from an offshore Schooner field facility in the United Kingdom’s waters.
With a maximum load capacity of 14,200 t, the Thialf then transported the wellhead platform to recycling and dismantling experts Hoondert Yard in the Netherlands.
Chris Spence, DNO’s chief operating pfficer, said, “We have conducted these operations in a safe, cost-efficient and environmentally responsible manner, coordinating five tier-one contractors and displaying our capabilities as a full life-cycle offshore operator.”
Following the removal of the wellhead production platform, Heerema later also detached the structure’s jacket.
According to DNO, around 95% of the materials will be recycled.
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