Perenco advances Pickerill decommissioning with topsides removal

Decommissioning services specialist Petrodec has completed skidding operations for the topside removal of Perenco’s Pickerill A unmanned platform, located offshore the UK.

Petrodec said that the topside preparation, skidding, sea fastening, and rig move arrangements were completed on 13 June.

The topside arrived safely at Vlissingen harbour in the Netherlands on 15 June. According to the company, the topside will soon be offloaded for final dismantlement.

Petrodec added that this follows a plug and abandonment campaign in 2019. The campaign, like the skidding, was performed by the Energy Endeavour rig.

Before skidding, additional reinforcements were installed, and skid beams laid on the jack-up deck and underneath the topside.

Petrodec stated that the ability to use one rig, the Energy Endeavour, for both plug and abandonment, topside preparation, and topside removal operations, as opposed to a drilling rig and heavy lift vessel, was an industry first.

“This successful operation is the culmination of months of engineering work and project management from Petrodec and Perenco, both of whom are proud of this achievement”, the company said.

The Pickerill gas field is located in the UKCS Block 48/11 in the Southern North Sea, 65 kilometres offshore from the Theddlethorpe Gas Terminal.

It was discovered by well 48/11b-4, drilled by Conoco UK in 1984. Gas development started in 1992.

The gas field installations on the field include the Alpha (A) and Bravo (B) platforms. The two platforms are connected via two pipelines – a 16” export gas pipeline and the 3” methanol pipeline.

Pickerill A is connected to the Theddlethorpe terminal via a 24” gas export pipeline and a 3” methanol pipeline (PL817).

In 2003, the Pickerill field operatorship was handed over from BP to Perenco UK. The only partner in the field is Marubeni Oil and Gas.

Perenco received approval from the UK authorities for the Pickerill decommissioning program in September 2019.