Heerema’s Thialf removes Sable facilities for ExxonMobil

Earlier this month, Heerema’s semi-submersible crane vessel Thialf completed the eight-month-long campaign to remove the Sable Project’s offshore facilities on behalf of ExxonMobil in Canada.

According to Heerema’s statement on Wednesday, the Thialf arrived in Canada in early April and mobilized to the Sable Field on May 1 to begin executing a sequence of separate lifts of platform components using a reverse-installation method.

The campaign entailed the engineering, preparation, removal, and disposal (EPRD) of seven platform topsides, seven jackets and 22 conductors.

A total of five barge loads carrying Sable platform components, weighing approximately 48,000 metric tons, were towed across the Atlantic by the Heerema tugs Kolga and Bylgia.

Components were typically transported from the Sable field to Chedabucto Bay to be prepared (sea-fastened) before their transatlantic voyage.

After dismantling at the Able UK decommissioning yard in Hartlepool, England approximately 99 per cent of the material will be recycled primarily into steel.

The first shipment of structures to the UK for dismantling was previously scheduled to arrive at Able Seaton Port in the second quarter of 2020.

However, due to the global pandemic in early 2020, the project was delayed. An onboard crew of approximately 300 international and domestic workers, aided by support vessels and helicopters, has now completed the work.

The Sable Offshore Energy Project was developed in the late 1990s and produced more than two trillion cubic feet of natural gas and liquids before production finished on December 31, 2018.

Sable provided Nova Scotia with a new clean energy source and helped reduce the province’s reliance on coal and heavy fuel oil as primary energy sources.

As previously reported, Thialf has already returned to the Netherlands’ Port of Rotterdam where it met for the first time with Heerema’s other SSCV, the Sleipnir.