Pioneering Spirit to remove two North Sea gas platforms

Preparations are under way for Allseas’ Pioneering Spirit to lift and remove Spirit Energy’s DP3 and DP4 gas platforms from the East Irish Sea offshore northwest England.

These are two of eight installations which the company uses to produce gas from Morecambe Bay.

Both platforms first produced gas in 1985 when the South Morecambe field came online. As the field has matured, the reserves they previously tapped have been produced from the larger, manned Central Morecambe platform.

The 12 wells connected to the 11,000-metric ton (12,125-ton) DP3 and DP4 platforms have already been P&A’d, using a slant rig to accommodate the angle at which the wells were drilled in the 1980s in order to access the gas reservoir.

All the gas produced in Morecambe Bay is transported by pipeline to the onshore Barrow Gas Terminals for processing before entering Britain’s National Transmission System.

Read the latest issue of the OGV Energy magazine HERE.