Pioneering Spirit Completes Brent Delta Platform Removal
Allseas’ Pioneering Spirit has set a world lifting record with the successful removal of Shell UK’s 24,000t Brent Delta platform in the UK northern North Sea. Located in the Brent field, approximately 186km off the northeast coast of Shetland, the Brent Delta platform sat on a three-legged gravity-based structure, which stands in 140m of water. The platform, which was removed in one piece, is equivalent in height to the London Eye and for the last 40 years has operated as a hotel for over 160 staff, a factory, and a processing plant. The deck space of the platform is almost the same size as a football pitch.
The Brent team has undertaken five years of intense engineering and study work, as well as two years of platform engineering preparations offshore to strengthen the underdeck and cut the legs on Delta, and a mere ten seconds to complete the lift. After lifting and seafastening, the Brent Delta platform was transported to the Able UK Seaton Port yard in Hartlepool where at least 97% of the material will be recycled. It is anticipated that it could take from twelve to eighteen months to fully dismantle and recycle the platform.