Saipem awarded Aker Stord in Norway a subcontract for decommissioning and disposal (re-circulation/reuse) of the flare tower for the A and B platforms and concrete anchor blocks for the previously removed spar on the Shell UK Brent field in the British sector of the North Sea. Earlier this year Shell awarded Saipem UK Ltd. a contract for removal of the flare. The subcontract is worth NKr27 million.
The plan is for Saipem UK to free the flare tower from its gravity base and prepare it for towing to Stord, on the west coast of Norway during the summer 2005. Thereafter using theSaipem 7000 they will bring to the surface both the gravity base for the flare tower and six concrete blocks, which each have a weight of approximately. 1,000 tons and are on the seabed 140 m below the surface.
The flare tower was used for burning gas from the Brent A and B platforms during an early phase of the production. It is attached to a steel gravity base partly filled with concrete at a depth of 138 m. The flare boom itself ranges 56 m above sea level making the total height of the steel construction 194 m. It is kept upright in the sea by a round buoyancy tank, which is 10 m high and 10 m in diameter and is 120 m from the seabed. Total weight of the construction is 1,675 tons; where of 1,025 tons is the steel framework and 650 tons the steel/concrete gravity base.
The flare tower, which has not been in use during the recent years, is to be towed to Aker Stord, Norway, and moored preliminarily in the summer of 2005. There the top will be removed and placed on land. The rest of the construction will be divided into three pieces while at the bottom of the harbor basin. Thereafter the three sections will be lifted on land to the demolition plant.
Aker Stord expects 100% re-circulation/reuse of the flare tower with its gravity base and the concrete anchor blocks.
10/25/04
