EnQuest completed the removal of the Heather Alpha topsides on August 11.
The Allseas-owned Pioneering Spirit heavy lift vessel removed the 15,300 tonne topsides in a single lift, the largest single lift planned in the North Sea this year.
EnQuest Decommissioning Director, John Allan, said: “The Pioneering Spirit completed the lift in around 14 seconds, but that astonishing reality was only made possible by three years of meticulous planning, engineering and preparation works. After almost 50 years of operations in the North Sea, Heather Alpha’s legacy is to be an exemplar of a best-in-class decommissioning project, from inception to the responsible recycling of its materials.”
EnQuest has completed the plugging and abandonment of more than 80 North Sea wells in the past three years, and the heavy lift marked the culmination of significant planning, engineering and offshore preparation work, which was undertaken by EnQuest’s in-house.
The Heather topsides are currently in transit to Frederikshavn in Denmark, where the structure will be dismantled. It is expected that more than 95% of the structure will be recycled and repurposed.