EnQuest files decom plans for Heather topsides

UK oil and gas company EnQuest has filed its decommissioning programme for the Heather Alpha platform topsides, located in the UK North Sea, to the country’s authorities.

The draft programme is for the decommissioning of the platform topsides while the remaining jacket and pipeline infrastructure will be submitted later.

Under the plan, the topsides will be recovered to shore for re-use, recycling or disposal.

The Heather installation is located in block 2/5 of the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS). It is a fixed installation providing manned production, drilling, and utilities facilities.

Heather is a fully integrated offshore installation consisting of modular topsides and piled steel jacket. The Heather field is located approximately 458km NNE of Aberdeen in a water depth of about 143m.

The platform was installed in 1977/78, with the first oil being produced on 6 October 1978.

The Heather platform is also a host to a number of risers and umbilicals associated with the Broom development tied back to Heather.

These include PL2693 (formerly PL2003), PL2004, PL3758 (formerly PL2005), PL2006, PL2007 and PLU2008. These will be subject to separate decommissioning programmes.

The Cessation of Production justification for Heather was accepted by the Oil and Gas Authority on 18 June 2020.

The Heather field has not been in operation since late 2019 following a fire on the platform in which two workers were injured. The platform was supposed to resume production in the first half of 2020.

However, EnQuest in early 2020 decided not to resume production at the platform due to a low oil price environment, which shook the market in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic.