Shell’s draft decommissioning program for the Goldeneye field installations and pipelines, located in the North Sea, has been approved by the UK authorities.
Shell submitted the Goldeneye draft decommissioning program to the UK authorities in November 2018. The approval was announced on Friday, November 1, 2019.
The Goldeneye field is a normal temperature, normal pressure gas condensate field located in blocks 14/28b, 14/29a, 20/3b and 20/4b of the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) in the central North Sea, approximately 100km North-East of St. Fergus.
Goldeneye has been operational as a gas producing field since 2004, and the last well in the Goldeneye field watered out on December 8, 2010. The field was finally shut-in on February 16, 2011.
The Goldeneye platform will be removed to shore for re-use or recycling. Wells will be plugged and abandoned. Sections of pipelines from the platform – up to but excluding the main pipeline tie-in flanges – will also be removed to shore for re-use or recycling.
The Normally Unattended Installation (NUI) is a four-leg steel jacket substructure supporting an integrated topsides deck structure. The design life of the platform was 20 years although the anticipated operating life was only 7-10 years. In 2018, the NUI was converted to a Permanently Unattended Installation (PUI) in preparation for decommissioning.