Authorities assessing Shell’s Gaupe tieback decommissioning plan

UK authorities are assessing the plan for the decommissioning of the infrastructure associated with Shell’s Gaupe field subsea tieback.

The field comprises two production wells in the Norwegian sector, Gaupe North and Gaupe South.

Fluid from the two drill centres are commingled at the Gaupe SSIV manifold, located close to the Armada Complex located in the Central North Sea, 250 kilometres East of Aberdeen on the UKCS.

The wells are tied back to the Armada Complex via two pipe-in-pipe systems and a flexible riser which was installed within a platform conductor caisson. Controls for the field are provided by the Armada facilities via two electro-hydraulic control and chemical supply umbilicals, one to each drill centre.

Armada’s gas
and condensate are sent towards the North Everest platform, with gas entering
CATS at the CATS riser platform and condensate enters the Everest Lomond System
pipeline before joining the FPS pipeline at Forties Charlie.

The Armada facilities,
CATS riser and facilities beyond are not part of the decommissioning programme.

The Gaupe
wells were tied back through the Gaupe field pipelines to the Armada complex.
They came on stream in the first quarter of 2012.

It is worth
noting that the Gaupe field assets were originally included within draft
decommissioning proposals for the Armada Hub. Approval-in-principle from the
OGA for the cessation of production of the Armada Hub and associated tiebacks
was granted in August 2016.

In November
2017, the Armada Complex was divested to Chrysaor with the intent of extending
field life and CoP was deferred.

The Gaupe
wells and associated subsea infrastructure were not part of the divestment and
remained within the Shell portfolio.

Production was temporarily suspended in August 2018, and after clarifications regarding future use, the owners declared CoP in December 2019.

Shell’s plan includes the full removal of the SSIV, two risers, two pipelines, and the partial removal of two umbilicals, as well as any associated apparatus up to the UK-Norway median line.

As the field is located on the Norwegian Continental Shelf a separate decommissioning plan has been submitted to the Norwegian authorities for approval.

Due to the Gaupe
subsea infrastructure decommissioning scope being limited, Shell will seek
synergies with other projects to be able to perform the operations in a
cost-efficient manner.