OBANA jackup removes multiple platform structures from two North Sea gas fields

Dixtone group subsidiary Petrodec has completed a decommissioning program for Perenco UK at the Amethyst and Galahad gas fields in the UK southern North Sea.

OBANA, the self-elevating heavy-lift jackup vessel, removed the jacket and topside from the Galahad normally unmanned installations (NUIs) as well as the jackets from the C1D, A2D and B1D NUIs at Amethyst. 

OBANA is currently offloading the structures at the Vlissingen-Oost decommissioning yard in the south of the Netherlands, where work will start shortly on dismantling the jackets.

The six-legged jackup vessel, completed at the Damen Shipyard in Rotterdam in 2025, was constructed largely from recycled steel, and it was created by merging two repurposed former drilling rigs (Brage and Gabrus), with a newbuilt mid-section constructed in Dubai.

Petrodec commissioned the vessel for complex, heavy decommissioning offshore activities in water depths of up to 65 m. The design was a collaboration between the company and Singapore-based Seatrium Offshore Technology.

OBANA features a 2,000-mt crane and a lateral skidding capacity on beams of up to 8,000 mt for heavy modules, with up to 12,000 mt of variable deck capacity equipped with roller systems.

These are said to be capable of rearranging components on deck so multiple modules of an offshore platform and jacket can be removed in a single campaign.