Offshore staff
ABERDEEN, UK – Spirit Energy plans to decommission two normally unmanned platforms used to produce gas in Morecambe Bay offshore northwest England.
The company’s plans call for removal and recycling of a combined 22,000 tons of platform infrastructure, and P&A of 12 wells, permanently isolating the facilities from the gas reservoir at 1 km (0.6 mi) subsurface.
The DP3 and DP4 platforms in the East Irish Sea started operations in 1985 and produced gas as part of a complex of eight offshore installations. However, production has since been diverted through the larger, manned South Morecambe platform.
Over the next three years, Spirit plans to prepare the two installations for full removal and then take them back to shore. It aims to re-use or recycle more than 95% of the steel, equipment, and other materials.
Spirit previously announced similar plans for the nearbyBains field, which used to produce gas via subsea infrastructure connected back to the main South Morecambe platform.
The company has launched a public consultation on its proposals, which it aims to submit to the UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for approval.
All gas produced in Morecambe Bay is transported by pipeline to the Barrow Gas Terminals, where it is processed before entering the UK’s National Transmission System.
During the past two years Spirit has invested more than £200 million ($261 million) in projects offshore and onshore to extend the life of the Morecambe Bay fields, including the terminals which transfer all the processed gas at the South Terminal to the North Terminal.
02/21/2019
