AF Offshore Decom (AFOD), a subsidiary of AF Gruppen, has been hired on a new decommissioning project on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) by Ithaca Energy, a North Sea oil and gas operator and producer.
Weeks after winning a deal for the engineering, receipt, dismantling and recycling of the FPF-1 floating production platform in the UK sector of the North Sea with Ithaca Energy, AF Offshore Decom has been awarded another decommissioning assignment it describes as a “major” contract with the same operator.
As a result, the firm will handle the dismantling, cleaning, and recycling of the Alba floating storage unit (FSU) in the UK North Sea, which weighs approximately 24,000 metric tons. The unit will arrive at AF Environmental Base Vats (AFEBV) in 2026.
This award brings the total volume of Ithaca assets arriving at AFEBV this year to nearly 50,000 metric tons. The FPF-1 and Alba assets will be prepared, floated over, and loaded in a combined operation, a method the firm executed for several previous projects.
Once at AFEBV, these assets will undergo full cleaning, dismantling, and responsible material processing. The recovered steel will be repurposed, upcycled, and recycled into high-quality circular material solutions for agriculture, construction, and civil engineering industries across the Nordic region.
AF Offshore underlined: “This contract strengthens our position as a leading provider of sustainable decommissioning solutions and reflects our effective working relationship with Ithaca Energy.
“We look forward to continue working with Ithaca and our team are ready to get started on these new projects.”
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The Alba field lies about 130 miles (210 kilometers) northeast of Aberdeen, in the UK Central North Sea, in water depths of approximately 453 feet (138 meters). Discovered in 1984 in Block 16/26, this is a heavy oil field. The first oil was achieved in January 1994.
The field facilities include a fixed steel platform, the Alba Northern platform, and an FSU, the first to be purpose-built for the UK sector of the North Sea. The field was further developed in 2001 through the addition of the Alba Extreme South subsea production centre.
While Alba’s crude oil is offloaded from the stern of the FSU to a shuttle tanker before being transported to refineries in northwest Europe, the gas is used for fuel and the platform is also connected by a gas line to the Britannia platform in which Ithaca Energy holds a 32.38% non-operated working interest, via a 2.5 mile (4 kilometer) pipeline linking the two facilities.
Alba is operated by Ithaca Oil and Gas (36.67%) with Waldorf Production (25.68%), NEO Energy (17%), Spirit Energy (12.65%), and EnQuest (8%) holding non-operated working interests in the field.