Offshore staff
FORNEBU, Norway — Aker Solutions can now offer offshore operators a Second Life Report on the raw materials a decommissioned platform can supply, following dismantling and recycling.
The report highlights the volume of all materials recovered during decom work at the company’s specialist dismantling yard in Stord, western Norway.
It claims that far less energy is consumed using recycled steel materials than in the production of new steel ingots.
One of the yard’s main jobs last year was receiving the drilling platform topsides from the original development of the Valhall Field in the southern Norwegian North Sea, operated by Aker BP. Allseas’ Pioneering Spirit delivered the 6,700-t structure in May; initially, it was stripped of hazardous materials and electrical waste before being levelled by explosives.
Using explosives to bring heavy steel structures to ground level reduced the amount of work required at heights. Yard staff employed hydropower to drive the stationary-scissor and water-grit cutting machines, reducing associated missions and noise pollution.
Stord has so far recycled two of the original platforms at Valhall, which started production in 1982, and a third will be decommissioned by the end of this year.
At the same time, Aker Solutions is constructing the topside for a new Valhall production and wellhead platform across the bay from the decommissioning facility, and some of the recycled materials and equipment from the old Valhall platforms could conceivably be reused for this activity.
Currently, about 40,000 t of recovered platform structures are awaiting dismantling and recycling at Stord.
02.08.2023
