BP has awarded a decommissioning contract for the Andrew field in the North Sea to a new joint venture comprising THREE60 Energy and AF Offshore Decom, a subsidiary of AF Gruppen. This award marks a change in the decommissioning execution model in the UKCS by positioning the joint venture as an integral partner in the post-CoP process.
The process of dismantling the Andrew Field
The joint venture will be responsible for a wide range of activities, including planning and execution of post-cessation operations, well disconnection and decommissioning, facilities preparation, disassembly of topsides and substructures, and removal of subsea infrastructure. Initial activities will focus on well abandonment planning(P&A) and platform operational transition.
THREE60 Energy will lead field operations through its track record as a well, pipeline and facilities operator, while AF Offshore Decom will bring more than two decades of experience in the safe removal and recycling of offshore infrastructure, including more than 90 decommissioned structures. The alliance will operate from a joint office in Aberdeen, Scotland.
The Andrew field, located 225 kilometers from Aberdeen, has been a strategic production node for BP. The facility has an upper structure of more than 11,000 tons and a substructure of 7,600 tons, along with a network of subsea wells, beams and umbilicals totaling more than 80 kilometers in length. The scope of the contract reflects the technical complexity and magnitude of the work to be performed.
Both Walter Thain, CEO of THREE60 Energy, and Alice Andreassen, Managing Director of AF Offshore Decom, highlighted the strategic nature of this collaboration to drive a new approach to offshore asset decommissioning. The synergy between the two companies seeks to optimize each phase of decommissioning under a safe and coordinated approach, aligned with UK regulatory and environmental requirements.
Source and photo: THREE60 Energy
