Ithaca approved to remove North Sea Anglia platform

Ithaca Energy has received approval from the UK’s Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning for its decommissioning proposals for the Anglia gas field in the UK southern North Sea.

 

Anglia, which ceased production in 2015, is in blocks 48/19b and 48/18b. Facilities to be removed comprise a normally unmanned platform and various platform/subsea wells.

 

Offshore work will probably take place during the mid-2020s.

 

In the northern North Sea, operator EnQuest has determined that the Dons Area fields have reached their economic limits following issues with the water injection and gas lift capability on the Northern Producer floating production platform.

 

The Don Southwest, Conrie and Ythan fields extend across blocks 211/18a and 18c (Ithaca 40%), while West Don is in blocks 211/18b and 211/13b (Ithaca 21.4%).

 

If regulatory approvals for cessation of production come through by the end of 1Q 2021, this should allow the platform to be removed ahead of the full-field decommissioning programme.

 

In the Inner Moray Firth area of the UK central North Sea, the jack-up Valaris 101 completed a three-well decommissioning campaign on the Ithaca-operated Jacky field in June.

 

Jacky ceased production in 2014. Main activities that remain to be completed involve removal and recycling of the suction-piled, monopole unmanned platform, now re-scheduled to 2021 due to COVID-19 related restrictions.

 

As part of the decommissioning programme an ‘EnergyPod’ has been installed on the platform, allowing the full power requirements of the unmanned installation to be provided by wind and solar energy within a single modular system.

 

According to Ithaca, this deployment is a first offshore and could potentially lead to further deployments on other fields operated by the company.

 

Source: Offshore Magazine