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    1. Vessels

    EnQuest signs Pioneering Spirit for North Sea Heather topsides removal

    Oct. 7, 2022
    EnQuest has contracted Allseas to remove the topsides from the Heather Alpha platform in the UK northern North Sea.
    Courtesy Allseas
    Heather’s production, drilling and utilities platform is 460 km northeast of Aberdeen in a water depth of 143 m.
    Heather’s production, drilling and utilities platform is 460 km northeast of Aberdeen in a water depth of 143 m.

    Offshore staff

    Courtesy Allseas
    EnQuest has opted for Pioneering Spirit’s single-lift technology for the removal of the Heather Alpha platform topsides.
    EnQuest has opted for Pioneering Spirit’s single-lift technology for the removal of the Heather Alpha platform topsides.
    DELFT, The Netherlands—EnQuest has contracted Allseas to remove the topsides from the Heather Alpha platform in the UK northern North Sea.

    Pioneering Spirit will lift the near-13,000 metric ton modular topsides under an engineering, preparation, removal and disposal contract.

    Heather’s production, drilling and utilities platform is 460 km northeast of Aberdeen in a water depth of 143 m. Preparations will start next year with the lift scheduled for 2025.

    Allseas also revealed it is installing hybrid power technology from Kongsberg Maritime on its Solitaire and Audacia pipelay vessels.

    Batteries store energy when demand is low, returning it when demand rises. The result is said to be optimized engine loading with improved fuel efficiency and reduced running hours.

    Allseas sustainability coordinator Wouter Roelofsen said, “The complex nature of our offshore operations requires state-of-the-art DP3 systems powered by a diesel-electric configuration. Hybrid power will reduce our fuel consumption, which translates to significant emissions and cost savings.”

    Analysis suggests optimized energy efficiency, hybrid power and shore plug-in could cut emissions across the company’s fleet by up to 20% compared with the current diesel-electric propulsion.

    All the new systems will be installed in 2023. Solitaire will be fitted with Kongsberg’s PowerAllocator energy storage solution, designed to allow the engines to run at increased fuel efficiency with full flexibility in power system setups.

    Energy storage will be available for spinning reserve and power peak load smoothing for all main redundancy groups in open and closed bus operation.

    Audacia and Fortitude will be equipped with dual-feed energy storage systems.

    Allseas is considering hybrid solutions for other vessels in its fleet.

    10.07.2022

    Related

    Courtesy Allseas
    Allseas has been awarded a substantial construction contract by TC Energy for a major offshore pipeline delivering natural gas to southeast Mexico.
    Courtesy EnQuest
    Heather and Broom are adjacent oil fields that were produced through Heather Alpha, a fixed steel offshore platform, with Broom connected via a subsea tieback. EnQuest says good progress has been made on Heather decommissioning activities, with subsea inspections having been completed ahead of the resumption of the well abandonment program.
    Courtesy EnQuest
    The Greater Kittiwake Area comprises five offshore oil fields: Kittiwake, Mallard, Gadwall, Goosander and Grouse. EnQuest says through successful rejuvenation of the well stock, improving water injection capability and a focus on debottlenecking the production system, significant increases in volume and uptime have been achieved.
    Courtesy EnQuest
    There remains significant development potential for the Golden Eagle, including further subsea and platform infill drilling, with an anticipated field life extending into the early 2030s.