Leiths Newsletter Issue 20 - Magazine - Page 7
CORPORATE / GROUP NEWS
ISSUE 19
DECOMMISSIONING
FIRST FOR
KISHORN PORT
In a first for Kishorn Port and Scotland
the end-of-life Northern Producer
oil and gas rig is to be dismantled
in the port’s dry dock.
The Northern Producer coming into the dry dock at Kishorn Port.
Hard on the heals of the departure of the
Intrepid drilling rig, the Northern Producer has
come into the dry dock for dismantling after
having been anchored in Loch Kishorn for 18
months. The Producer is a 12,500 tonne floating
production facility which has reached the end
of its operational life. It commenced operations
as a drilling rig in 1976 and was most recently
located in the Dons Field in the Northern North
Sea before being towed to Kishorn.
The rig’s owners chose Kishorn for dismantling
as it’s one of only a handful of facilities which
are fully licenced by the EU and SEPA to accept
such structures for dismantling in a dry dock.
The dismantling work itself will be undertaken
by Liberty Industrial who have significant
experience of demolition and
decommissioning of major power station, oil
refinery and infrastructure facilities. Liberty are
currently decontaminating and demolishing
the former Nigg oil terminal near Invergordon.
The dismantling operation will take between
eight to ten months, with the steel to be
shipped out by cargo vessel for recycling
elsewhere.
Port Expansion
As part of KPL’s expansion plans, specialist
contractors Causeway Geotech recently carried out
the drilling of 34 boreholes, mainly in Loch Kishorn
alongside the port.
The purpose of the boreholes is to gain information
on the depth and make-up of the loch bed material
which will be used in the design of new quaysides.
The drilling was undertaken from the Haven Seariser,
a small jack-up barge.
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Drilling Barge.
