Perenco UK Starts Southern North Sea Decommissioning Works

Obana, Petrodec BV's newly constructed heavy-lift jack-up vessel, has been deployed for decommissioning in the Southern North Sea (SNS). Perenco UK (PUK) said in a media release that Obana is being deployed on Block 38/12a, on the Galahad platform, to remove the topside and the jacket. After Galahad, Obana will remove the C1D, A2D, and B1D jackets in the Amethyst field.

PUK said the jackets are expected to be completed and offloaded in the Netherlands later this year.

"The deployment of the state-of-the-art Petrodec Obana heavy-lift jack-up vessel to Galahad, and then to Amethyst, are further milestones [sic] in our ongoing decommissioning program. Having already dismantled 26 offshore structures, we are committed to continuing our track record of effective and efficient decommissioning, exercising diligent stewardship of one of the largest networks of owned and operated gas assets in the UK North Sea", Jo White, UK SNS Managing Director, said.

Obana is the largest self-elevating, heavy-lift jack-up vessel of its kind globally, PUK noted. Built recently at Damen Shipyard in Rotterdam, Obana features six legs, is made of 85 percent recycled steel, and was created by combining two repurposed drilling rigs, the Brage and Gabrus, with a new mid-section assembled in Dubai, PUK said.

The jack-up vessel was built to address complex and heavy decommissioning works in water depths of up to 65 meters. It is equipped with a 2,000-tonne crane and has 3,800 square meters (40,900 square feet) and up to 12,000 tonnes of deck capacity equipped with roller systems capable of rearranging components on deck, so that multiple modules can be removed in a single campaign, PUK noted.

The design was a collaboration between Petrodec, Dixstone's specialist decommissioning arm, and Singapore-based Seatrium Offshore Technology.

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