Norwegian oil and gas operator DNO has announced the removal of wellhead platform production facilities from the Schooner field offshore UK.
The Ketch and Schooner fields are located in the Southern Basin of the UK Continental Shelf in licence blocks 44/28a and 44/26a, respectively.
The move marks the last major offshore operation under DNO’s multi-year North Sea decommissioning programme.
DNO selected Heerema for the integrated engineering, preparation, removal and disposal of the Ketch and Schooner platforms in January 2022.
The decommissioning work was carried out by the Heerema Marine Contractors-owned Thialf semi-submersible crane vessel.
DNO said that the platform deck, which weighs 1,200 tonnes, was lifted aboard the Thialf vessel and the jacket was removed after the piles were cut three metres below the seabed.
The deck and jacket are set to be transported to and recycled at the Hoondert Yard in the Netherlands.
DNO chief operating officer Chris Spencer said: “We have conducted these operations in a safe, cost-efficient and environmentally responsible manner, coordinating five tier-one contractors and displaying our capabilities as a full life cycle offshore operator.”
In 2019, DNO obtained the operatorship stake in the Schooner and Ketch fields in the UK and the Oselvar subsea field in Norway.
Subsequently, DNO completed plugging and abandonment of the nine wells at the Ketch field and three wells in Oselvar field in 2021, followed by the 12 wells at the Schooner field in 2022.
