Greenhead contract

LERWICK Port Authority has welcomed the “splendid” news that a major new oil decommissioning project will be undertaken at the Greenhead Base.

BP has awarded the contract to recycle over 11,500 tonnes of offshore subsea materials to Veolia Environmental Services in partnership with Peterson.

The contract, awarded in December, is to dismantle and recycle equipment associated with the Schiehallion and Loyal fields to the West of Shetland as part of BP’s “Quad 204” project.

The project is expected to last for 14 months and will see 98 per cent of the materials recycled. An initial team of 15 staff will dismantle a range of equipment including pipelines, structures and mooring systems located on the seabed.

“It is splendid news,” LPA chief executive Sandra Laurenson said. “This is a continuation of the good subsea decommissioning work that Veolia and Peterson have been doing for some time at Greenhead.

“11,500 tonnes is a substantial contract and maintains their skills and expertise in this important sector. This is a phase of BP’s Quad 204 project west of Shetland and we are also seeing the replacement subsea kit coming through Lerwick on its way to the field.”

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BP’s offshore programme director said it was “always pleasing to be able to utilise local expertise when it is available”.

“We look forward to working with Veolia to deliver this part of the project and to achieving the high recycling targets that are possible.”

Veolia’s executive director David Lusher added that North Sea decommissioning was now worth an estimated £1 billion.