NorSea Group wins decommissioning contract for North Sea fields

PETERHEAD, United Kingdom -- NorSea Group (UK) Limited has won northeast Scotland’s first major “small piece” decommissioning contract.

Work has already begun on the six-month project, which is being carried out at NorSea Group’s Peterhead facility on behalf of Endeavour Energy and involves the safe disposal of subsea manifolds and associated pipework from Renee and Rubie fields.

All materials from the fields, which lie 200 km northeast of Aberdeen, are being delivered to Smith Quay, which is operated by NorSea Group. An important element of the contract was the requirement that reuse of returned material be maximized, and NorSea Group will achieve a 100% recycling rate.

The returned material includes 1,000 tonnes of concrete mattresses, which will be used as hard core and in road construction projects; 200 tonnes of pipework and skid units, which will be recycled as scrap metal; manifold valves, which will be refurbished and reused; and a 17 tonne crossover manifold, which will be transported to the Underwater Centre at Fort William where it will be used for diver training.

“This is our first decommissioning win and the first such project to be carried out in the northeast,” said Walter Robertson, managing director of NorSea Group (UK). “We are primarily known as a logistics and base services company servicing the offshore industry, but, as part of our future growth strategy, we are developing our decommissioning capability. In the current economic climate, we anticipate that many more decommissioning projects will be coming forward, and we are already involved in tendering for additional contracts in this area.”

NorSea Group (UK) was established as the UK wing of its Norwegian parent company NorSea Group in 2013.