Europe

Exploration and production company Energean will be taking control of the decommissioning of Tors and Wenlock fields in the Southern UK North Sea, which are now at the end of their economic production capability 

As part of the project the company has put together a specialist team, including Andrew Shepherd as UK Decommissioning Manager to carry out the approved work plan.

Waldorf Production, who operated the two fields, has officially passed the baton to Energean who is also a majority owner in the fields, with 68% ownership of Tors and 80% of Wenlock. The company had acquired the stakes in 2020 from Edison Exploration & Production SpA.

Tors and Wenlock reached the end of production in 2020 and 2022 respectively. 

The MV Patriot has become the latest addition to the Rovco specialist fleet, joining the company’s existing two site characterisation vessels.

The leading provider of tech-powered offshore wind solutions that is valued at nearly UK£200mn, has chartered the new vessel as part of its mission to accelerate the offshore energy industries clean energy transition through deep-technology solutions. It is committed to combining AI, robotics and simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) technologies. This motivation is being driven by the growth of the offshore wind sector as well as the ever-expanding decommissioning needs of the oil and gas industry.

The 74 m MV Patriot is expected to scale-up the company’s subsea capabilities. It boasts an active heave crane and 682 sq m deck capacity to support Rovco’s construction and maintenance expertise. At the same time, it also consolidates the company’s site clearance ability, including debris and boulder removal and unexploded ordinance navigation.

Offshore precision

The vessel’s DP2 station keeping capability will reportedly provide a stable platform for launch and recovery in marginal weather, allowing Reovco to schedule wider working windows across surveys and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) inspection. Indeed, the MV Patriot will be permanently installed with best-in-class ROVs while the WROV on-board will be fitted with SubSLAM technology to enable live inspections and precise 3D reconstructions. Full site data capture offshore will be enabled by the MV Patriot and this, in tandem with ship-to-shore communications will facilitate real-time decision making.

“We’re delighted to be adding the highly versatile and capable MV Patriot to our fleet,” commented Director of O&M Marc Coull. “This provides a further platform for our leading technology in areas such as visual pilot assist, autonomous general visual inspection, as well as ensuring that auto-eventing and reporting can be utilised more widely.”

The vessel will be delivered to Rovco for a period of three years with the option to extend by a further two.

Well integrity solutions provider Unity has onboarded Ian Retalic as the new Wells Manager, as part of the company's robust 2024 growth plan. 

In his new role, Retalic will be tackling senior client relations and international growth, looking into strategies to expand the reach of Unity's well integrity, intervention and plug and abandonment solutions to a global scale.

Untill now, Retalic has been associated with Altus Intervention as the Business Development Manager for eight years, where he served the company’s global provision of well intervention and technology services. His 35 years of experience include strong technical, commercial and leadership skills that are the results of an impressive line-up of positions as Senior Well Services Supervisor for the Brent Field at Shell; Senior Well Operations Engineer and Wells Project Manager for Baker Hughes; Drilling Supervisor and board level Director of Business Development, Marketing and Sales at Leading Edge Advantage and Global Product Line Manager at Lloyd’s Register.

Retalic said, “Unity has positioned itself as a leader in its field with a valuable and unique industry offering. I’m excited to be playing my part in its ambitious growth plans and to be helping operators to benefit from the company’s progressive well integrity, intervention and decommissioning solutions.”

Welcoming the new team member, Stuart Slater, Technical Sales Director at Unity, said, “Ian’s senior level expertise is a great asset and his industry knowledge and practical approach are already proving to be an excellent synergy. I’m sure he will hit the ground running and I’m looking forward to working with Ian as we invest in the strategic growth of our Wells, Decom and Innovation business streams across new geographic and energy sector markets.”

Retalic's appointment to the sales team at Unity follows that of wells and decom specialist Dillan Perras, who joined the board in January.

DOF has been awarded a substantial Subsea Engineering Procurement Removal and Disposal (EPRD) Contract from A/S Norske Shell in the Atlantic region, with more than 100 combined days utilisation of the vessels Skandi Hera and Maersk Installer.

Under the contract, the company will deliver an integrated solution of project management, engineering, design, analysis and survey. Services will range from the recovery and recycling of umbilicals, risers, rigid spools and manifolds to other subsea structures and infrastructure, at the Knarr and Gaupe fields. Preparatory work is on before offshore execution begins in Q2 and Q3 2025. 

Mons S. Aase, CEO DOF Group ASA, said, "The award continues to demonstrate DOF’s inhouse capability of offering turnkey solutions to our existing and new customers, building on our established capability offering in the decommissioning market."

Marking its latest development as a 'decommissioning milestone', Perenco UK announced that it has successfully completed the plug and abandonment of three subsea wells at the Gawain field in the UK Southern North Sea.

Challenging decommissioning campaign

In a campaign that added up to 160 days and included more than 340 air dives, the workforce made sure to remove all associated subsea infrastructure as well. Post decommissioning surveys will continue till the end of the year so that the seabed is left spotless.

Given the challenging winters in the Southern North Sea, the team was able to tackle the project unscathed as they worked considering the health, safety and environment factors. Workers were backed by specialist contractors and a jack-up vessel equipped with an air-based diving, and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) spread to allow for rig-based diving.

Perenco UK SNS Managing Director, Jo White, said, “The completion of this significant project shows the commitment Perenco has to effective and efficient decommissioning of our SNS assets. It highlights the expertise of our specialist teams, with a mindset of developing innovative approaches, while maintaining a strong focus on health, safety and the environment.”

In line with its decarbonisation plans, the British Geological Survey has initiated a £1.7mn renewable energy system, including the installation of a geothermal heat pump that also serves as a 'living laboratory' at its headquarters in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire.

Primarily funded by the Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) with a further contribution from the Government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, the installed system comprises of 28 boreholes drilled to a depth of 225 m.

Living laboratory

With advanced monitoring enabled to assess running costs and efficiency, the site will also serve as a laboratory for organisations considering to replace fossil fuel boilers with clean heat pumps. In fact, the institute will conduct further studies through rock samples to help get a better understanding of the flow of heat and water underground, which can be resourceful for those taking up similar projects in the future. 

The geothermal setup at the BGS campus that substitutes greenhouse gas-emitting gas boilers will save approximately 30 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, and reduce the organisation’s heating bill. 

"Geothermal energy is heat that naturally occurs under the ground and is available 24/7 across the UK. This project will demonstrate the deployment of ground-source heat pump technology to decarbonise existing buildings across the public sector estate," said David Boon, Senior Engineering and Geothermal Geologist at BGS.

The city of Kalisz, Poland, is set to receive PLN14mn (approx. US$3.5mn) from the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management to subsidise the drilling of a geothermal well in the city.

The Ministry of Climate and Environment granted the funding to carry out work checking the availability of geothermal reserves by drilling a vertical borehole to depths of 1,700 m next to the Aquapark swimming pool complex within 2024-2025.

Exploring reserve potential  

Kalisz has been rumoured to be the home of rich geothermal reserves, and this exploration project aims to discover if there is indeed truth to that statement.

Kalisz’ Mayor, Krystian Kinastowski, stated, “We have been waiting for this information for a long time, but it was worth developing projects, documents and analyses for many years.

“We will drill a geothermal well in Kalisz to check the availability of geothermal waters under out city […] We hope that we will be able to discover hot springs and the water found in them will be used to heat homes and for recreational purposes.” 

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has released the latest version of the Decommissioning Data Visibility Dashboard in a bid to make decommissioning operations more cost-efficient.

When first piloted by the organisation in 2021, the platform included field-specific information of just three operators. Now, that number is up to 15, unlocking even more vital information about upcoming work to potential suppliers. This will allow for enhanced collaboration and careful planning to achieve more cost-effective decommissioning operations, ultimately making them more attractive.

According to NSTA, the interactive dashboard provides suppliers with the confidence to invest in technologies and training by reducing the uncertainty and lack of transparency around the timing of decommissioning activities. Armed with data from the annual UKCS Stewardship Survey, it shows how many wells, subsea structures and pipelines the companies plan to decommission – as well as the weight of platforms to be removed – over the next five years.

Alastair Bisset, NSTA Head of Decommissioning and DaRT Co-Chair, remarked, “Suppliers need to know when decommissioning work is going to happen so that they can invest with confidence and plan effectively. The dashboard was created to help plug this knowledge gap, so it is very satisfying to see this group of leading operators put their weight behind it.”

Increasing decommissioning capacity

Operators will be able to use this data to identify potential collaboration opportunities to decommission wells together (thereby saving costs) while service providers have the chance to discover what skills and resources will be in demand at an earlier date.

Scott Barr, Executive Vice President, North Sea, at Harbour Energy and DaRT Co-Chair, commented, “This dashboard will help provide the supply chain with the visibility and confidence they need to deliver UK decommissioning works in a timely and cost-competitive way. It will also enable organisations to better understand future demand for skills and resources and to further increase their capacity to invest in technology and training programmes accordingly.”