Norwegian ocean services provider DeepOcean has been hired by the UK-headquartered energy giant BP to lend a hand in the decommissioning and recycling of subsea equipment from a site where a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) worked at the operator’s field located West of Shetland, on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).
By agreeing to support BP in the decommissioning and recycling of subsea equipment at the operator’s Foinaven field , DeepOcean will remove ten flexible process risers and three dynamic subsea umbilicals from the former FPSO Foinaven ’s location.
The Norwegian player will also recover a static umbilical, alongside various amounts of buoyancy, riser protection, clamps, and other appurtenances associated with each riser, which will be removed during recovery operations.
The company will provide engineering, project management and offshore execution, which will be managed and executed by its Aberdeen-based operations in the UK. The offshore scope will be carried out using a high-specification subsea construction vessel operated by the firm.
Discovered in 1992, with first oil in 1997, the Foinaven field is situated approximately 190 kilometers west of the Shetland Islands within the Faroes/Shetland Trough, in water depths ranging between 330 and 530 meters.
Before the FPSO was taken off-station in 2021 , the Foinaven asset produced 440 million barrels of oil, double the volume expected when initially developed.
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Robin Mawhinney , Executive Vice President for DeepOcean’s EMEA region, underlined: “Decommissioning has traditionally been viewed primarily as a cost exercise. At DeepOcean, we see it as an opportunity to apply engineering, technology, and commercial flexibility to improve project outcomes and recover value for our clients.”
This is the second time that DeepOcean and BP have entered into a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) governing the delivery of the project, building on the decommissioning work delivered by the firm for the UK operator at the Don and Miller fields under a similar commercial model.
Øyvind Mikaelsen , Chief Executive Officer of DeepOcean, commented: “We greatly appreciate the opportunity to support bp in another important decommissioning scope on the UKCS. This award reflects a progressive and commercially innovative approach to subsea decommissioning.
“By building on the successful model previously implemented with bp at the Miller and Don fields, we have established a robust framework that delivers greater efficiency, cost optimisation, and operational flexibility for both parties.”
The assignment with BP comes three weeks after DeepOcean landed a subsea contract package with Equinor for multiple fields on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS).