Veolia prepares for UK oil rig decommissioning project

A partnership between Paris-based Veolia and Netherlands-based logistics firm Peterson has been awarded two oil rig platform decommissioning and recycling contracts at a facility in Great Yarmouth, United Kingdom. With a goal of reaching 96% recycling rates, the work to recycle materials and assets is expected to begin in the spring of 2017 when the platforms arrive onshore, according to the two firms.

The contracts include the onshore receipt and disposal of offshore materials and several assets for a major gas producer. The work will cover disposal options for a number of production complex and surrounding satellite platforms currently located around 40 miles off the coast of Great Yarmouth. Recycling is expected to start in 2017 and will take about four years to complete.

“The industry has been looking for collaboration and these new contracts show collaboration in action right down the supply chain,” says Simon Davies, decommissioning general manager of Veolia at its UK operating subsidiary. “Our partnership has worked well at a number of sites and projects over the last 10 years, and we are very pleased to secure the first important contracts into Great Yarmouth.”

Ron van der Laan, a regional director with Peterson, adds, “We have been working hard on this development since 2013. These contract awards are a significant milestone and step towards establishing Great Yarmouth as a centre of excellence for decommissioning in the Southern North Sea.”

The partnership has been providing onshore decommissioning services for more than 10 years. Set up to cover the full decommissioning of platforms, the services include decontamination, deconstruction, waste management and environmental services together with associated integrated logistics, marine and quayside services. To date the joint venture has recovered more than 80,000 tonnes of offshore materials and achieved “excellent” environmental assessment ratings in the process, according to Veolia and Peterson. The new project will help create approximately 10 new jobs, with further expansion and employment as the project develops.

Supported by Peel Ports Great Yarmouth, Local Enterprise Partnership, Great Yarmouth Borough Council and Norfolk County Council, the new decommissioning site at Great Yarmouth Outer Harbour aims to establish Great Yarmouth as the centre for decommissioning, and to expand to meet the growing need for rig dismantlement work.

Recovering these platforms at the end of their operational life is essential, say the two firms. Now using the new facilities the valuable materials that they contain can be carefully extracted and returned to the supply chain for recycling, and where possible assets that have further operational life can be sold.