Wheels are in motion for Ninian Northern jacket decommissioning

Scotland’s Lerwick Harbour is to be the location of a further decommissioning project following the award of another contract to international partnership, Veolia/Peterson, to dismantle and recycle a northern North Sea platform jacket.

The latest award follows their winning the contract to decommission the 14,500-tonne topside for the same platform, the biggest to date at the port’s Dales Voe Base, and recently completed on time, with Veolia/Peterson achieving their target of more than 98 per cent materials recycled.

As informed by Peterson on Monday, the latest project has been awarded by Allseas. The 83-metres high steel jacket, weighing around 8,500 tonnes will also be delivered by Allseas’ Pioneering Spirit, the largest construction vessel in the world, in April.

As a reminder, the Pioneering Spirit vessel was also in charge of removing the Ninian Northern platform topside and transporting it to Lerwick back in late August 2021. Dismantling was done by Veolia/Peterson partnership. The Ninian oilfield is located around 160 km north-east of Shetland.

Now, preparations are well underway at the site for receipt of the jacket. Like the topside, it will be removed in a single lift and transferred ashore at the base via a barge. A heavy-duty purpose-built decommissioning pad will be used again, just like for topsides. Decommissioning of the jacket is expected to take around eight months to complete.

James Johnson, Decommissioning Manager at Peterson, commented: “We are delighted to continue to support the decommissioning of North Sea infrastructure and thank Allseas for choosing Peterson and Veolia to complete onshore disposal.

“We believe this award demonstrates the strong track record of Peterson and Veolia in handling all types of offshore decommissioning projects, as well as the excellent capability of the Dales Voe Base. It is also recognition of the excellent work undertaken in the decommissioning of the Ninian Northern topside, where an industry-first approach to decommissioning an offshore asset proved very successful.”

The eight-legged platform, a drilling and production facility, was installed in 1978 and started production in 1980. The production at the platform ceased in 2017.

Port Authority Chief Executive, Captain Calum Grains, commented: “It adds emphasis to advancing plans for an Ultra-Deep-Water Quay at Dales Voe to transform UK decommissioning capability and in servicing renewable energy. High-level talks with Government and industry continue to progress.”