Spirit Energy has completed a £40 million ($54 million) decommissioning campaign in UK waters, plugging and abandoning three subsea wells while removing more than 234 tonnes of infrastructure.

 The company said 100 per cent of recovered materials will be reused or recycled at UK yards.

The campaign, conducted between April and July in the UK Southern North Sea, involved more than 30 UK supply chain partners, including DeepOcean and Well-Safe.

Work covered the Seven Seas and Grove G5 production wells and the Grove Deep exploration well.

The Seven Seas and Grove G5 wells produced a combined 56 billion cubic feet of gas during their operating lives, enough to heat more than 2.5 million homes for a year.

Both contributed to UK gas supplies between 2008 and 2024.

DeepOcean’s construction support vessel Edda Freya completed enabling works, including removal of the 100-tonne Wellhead Protection Structure at Seven Seas.

Well-Safe’s jack-up rig, Well-Safe Protector, subsequently carried out reservoir abandonment activities.

The campaign involved more than 114,000 hours of work and followed the principles of the North Sea Transition Authority’s Decommissioning Charter.

Ceri Wheaton, Spirit’s Decommissioning Manager, said: “Some of the biggest challenges involved working with older infrastructure, alongside the Southern North Sea’s notoriously unpredictable weather. It’s why close working across all of Spirit’s teams and with our contracting companies has been absolutely critical to this project's success.

“We've had multiple vessels in the water at any one time, including tugs, a rig, a construction support vessel and ROVs, all while having to work together along with existing assets that are still in the field. Frequent and clear communication between onshore and offshore means that decisions can be made quickly leading to a safe and efficient campaign.”

Matt Browell-Hook, Spirit’s Director of Energy Transition, Decommissioning and Projects, said: “Safely and efficiently decommissioning offshore infrastructure when it cannot be repurposed is a key focus for our industry, and our support for the NSTA’s decommissioning charter reflects our commitment to doing this work safely and efficiently.

“It’s particularly pleasing that we are on course to recycle or reuse 100 per cent of the subsea materials recovered with the work to be carried out in UK yards. The campaign has been a great example of how operators and contracting companies can work together, and its success is testament to the hard work and expertise that exists right across the UK supply chain.” -OGN/TradeArabia News Service