Shell U.K. Ltd has awarded the Swiss-based Allseas Group S.A. the contract for the removal, transportation and load-in to shore of the topsides of three of its Brent platforms, with an option to do the same with the fourth platform.

The contract also includes the removal of Brent Alpha’s steel jacket.

The Brent field is situated on the UK Continental Shelf, 186 km (116 miles) north-east of Lerwick, Scotland, in a water depth of 140 m (460 ft). The field comprises four large platforms: Alpha (a steel jacket), Bravo, Charlie and Delta (concrete gravity-based structures), with topside weights ranging from 16,000 to 30,000 t.

Removals begin with Brent Delta in 2015/16, and the remaining topsides over the ensuing eight years with dates to be confirmed.

The Brent contract is the first to be awarded to Allseas for Pieter Schelte, Allseas’ dynamically positioned single-lift installation/decommissioning and pipelay vessel, which is currently under construction at Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) in Okpo, Korea.

Pieter Schelte, with a length of 382 m and width of 124 m, will have a topsides lift capacity of 48,000 t and a jacket lift capacity of 25,000 t.

Press Release, August 15, 2013