Shell U.K. Exploration & Production is seeking U.K. Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) approval for onshore disposal of Fulmar field loading buoy.
The operating venture of Shell U.K. Ltd. and Esso Exploration & Production U.K. Ltd. chose a proposal by Heerema Marine Contractors, Leiden, the Netherlands, that is essentially a reversal of the installation procedure.
Shell/Esso selected the Heerema plan from 12 different onshore scrapping and reuse proposals submitted by five contractors. The operator invited contractors to bid in March 1997 (OGJ, Mar. 31, 1997, p. 36).
The buoy is a 5,150 metric ton single anchor leg mooring unit. It was positioned on U.K. North Sea Block 30/11 during 1981-94 to load crude oil from Fulmar, Auk, and Gannet fields into shuttle tankers.
The Fulmar buoy was taken out of service in 1994, after which Shell installed submerged turret loading in the field, and later a 16-km pipeline with capacity to handle 140,000 b/d of oil.
After removal from the field, the 85-m high, 16-m maximum diameter buoy was towed, like the much larger Brent spar loading buoy, to a fjord near Stavanger.
Unlike Brent spar, disposal is not likely to be contentious since the Fulmar structure does not contain remnants of stored oil and because onshore disposal was envisioned from the start.
Shell/Esso said Heerema intends to move the Fulmar buoy in its vertical position to a fabrication yard only 500 m from its mooring position. The yard is operated at Årdal Mekaniske Verkstad AS (ÅMV).
Heerema will lift the buoy onto the quay with a heavy lift crane barge, maneuvering it into a horizontal position as it is lifted. ÅMV will be subcontracted to scrap and recycle the buoy.
Shell/Esso expects to recover 2,500 tons of steel from the structure, which will be sent to a smelting plant in Norway for recycling. Other metals would be recovered, while 1,650 tons of hematite ballast would be sent for recycling, and 800 tons of treated water ballast would be handled by a specialist waste-disposal contractor.
The operator intends to begin formal statutory consultations over the disposal plan, as required by the government, this month. Shell/Esso hopes to receive DTI approval in time to carry out the work in the fourth quarter.
Removal and disposal of the Fulmar buoy is expected to cost £3 million ($4.8 million).
Kittiwake storage
Meanwhile, Shell/Esso plans to install two crude oil storage tanks on the seabed near U.K. North Sea Kittiwake platform on Block 21/18a.DTI has already approved the plan, which is intended to reduce Kittiwake's downtime. Kittiwake oil is exported by shuttle tanker, and in bad weather the tanker has to move away from the loading buoy.
Two cylindrical tanks on a support frame, with capacity to hold a total 19,000 bbl of oil-roughly half of Kittiwake's peak daily production-will be installed this summer 70 m from the platform.
Shell/Esso let a £5 million ($8 million) contract to Grootint BV of Zwijndrecht, the Netherlands, for design, fabrication, and installation of the storage unit.
Water depth in Kittiwake field is 85 m. The tanks will be lifted into place by Hereema's Thalf crane barge (formerly DB 102) and are designed to be retrieved for recycling or reuse at the end of the field's life.
Copyright 1998 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
