The first removal project covering a Statoil-operated offshore platform is being planned for the summer of 2001.
Heerema Marine Contractors and Umoe Olje og Gass are due to take away the topsides and bridges from the 2/4-S riser platform on Ekofisk in the North Sea. The jacket will remain for the time being.
Installed in 1983-84, 2/4-S served as an important way-station for gas transport from fields in the northern North Sea through Statoil's Statpipe trunkline.
It was abandoned when the Ekofisk loop line, which links Statpipe directly with the Norpipe gas line from Ekofisk to Emden in Germany, began operation in August 1998.
Umoe will be responsible for preparatory work on the platform before lifting operations begin.
Three modules, a flare boom, two bridges and a quantity of smaller equipment weighing roughly 5,770 tonnes will then be removed by a Heerema crane ship and shipped to land by the same company.
A contract for breaking up the topside units and bridges on land is likely to be awarded during the spring, reports project manager Hans Gustaf Klasson in Technology.
He points to experience gained by other operators, which indicates that 95-98 per cent of the materials in this type of platform can be recycled.