Sleipnir Completes First Decommissioning Campaign
Earlier this month, Heerema Marine Contractors’ Sleipnir completed its first decommissioning campaign of the season.
It was a unique project, as Heerema’s Champion installed the same modules for ConocoPhillips at the Greater Ekofisk Field in the 1970s. Now almost fifty years later, Sleipnir has returned to complete the journey.
The decommissioning of the Ekofisk 2/4A platform is the final stage of an important story in Norway’s energy history. The permanent production platform was the oldest on the Norwegian shelf when oil production ended on September, 2013. Now the Ekofisk 2/4A platform will be recycled up to 99% at the AFEBV decommissioning site in Vats, Norway.
This topsides campaign entailed Engineering, Preparation, Removal, and Disposal/Recycling of five modules, a crane boom, and a burner boom within the Greater Ekofisk Field. Heerema also developed a dedicated subsea excavator to prepare the jacket for removal later this season by Sleipnir. It was particularly appropriate that Sleipnir would perform the decommissioning work as it is the world’s most sustainable SSCV. Using Sleipnir made an already environmentally friendly process of removing retired platforms from our seas as sustainable as possible. During the project, Sleipnir ran on LNG when next to the platform. To read more about why using LNG makes Sleipnir sustainable, please click here.
Heerema said: “We are proud that we could again work with ConocoPhillips in the Greater Ekofisk Field, and that the project was executed safely and with no environmental impact. We look forward to continuing with the removal of the platform’s jackets later this year.”
“It is essential to note that all companies involved followed the strict government guidelines to protect their workforces during the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. Safeguarding our workforce and those who work with us is always our top priority.”
