Centrica in UK Gas Fields Decom Plan
Monday 26 June 2017
Centrica is to decommission a cluster of four gas fields in the southern North Sea off the UK after the company submitted its plan to authorities.
The owner of utility British Gas is decommissioning the so-called A fields in the southern North Sea, where production came to a halt at the end of last year after decades in operation.
According to plans submitted by Centrica, the Ann, Audrey, Alison and Annabel fields will all be decommissioned between next year and 2023.
The whole project will involve the decommissioning of two platforms, two templates, four wellhead protection structures and one manifold. All 23 wells will be plugged and abandoned.
In total some 9000 tonnes of structures will be decommissioned, including the 2300 and 2100-tonne platforms. More than 95% of the decommissioned structures is expected to be recycled.
Centrica has already received approval from the UK's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for the decommissioning of the wellhead protection structure at Ann.
Will Black, Centrica project manager overseeing the pre-sanction phase of the decommissioning project, said: "The A fields have a long history and have been an important part of Centrica’s North Sea portfolio, but having maximised the potential of these fields now is the right time for us to start decommissioning.
"Our focus now is on removing the infrastructure in a safe and environmentally responsible way, and we look forward to working with all of our supply chain partners in completing the project over the coming years."
The A fields are some of the oldest fields in the UK North Sea. The first well was drilled on the fields in 1966, with first gas via Audrey in 1988. Together the fields have produced nearly one trillion cubic feet of gas.
Audrey has two normally-unmanned installations and is connected to Annabel via a subsea tie-back. Ann and Alison are both tied back to the Lincolnshire Offshore Gas Gathering System (LOGGS).
All the gas from the A fields made its way to the ConocoPhillips-operated LOGGS, before being processed at the Theddlethorpe Gas Terminal. However, ConocoPhillips confirmed recently it plans to shut down the terminal by the end of the next year.
The move had already raised questions about the future of a number of producing UK southern North Sea gas fields.