Removal of North-East Frigg

In 1995, the Storting (parliament) approved the removal of the facilities and their disposition. This was the first time installations on the NCS were to be removed and recycled. The Storting wanted as much of the hardware as possible to be reused, and environmental considerations were in focus.

Stolt Comex Seaways and Kværner Installasjon won the removal job, with Per Jøssang from Stolt Comex as project manager. North-East Frigg featured a seabed template with six well slots and a control station. The latter comprised a 125-metre steel column attached to a seabed foundation and supporting a topside. Several solutions were proposed, and Jøssang has described the one chosen as both simple and highly unconventional.[REMOVE]Fotnote: Norwegian Petroleum Diary, no 2 2002 The topside was offered to North Sea Drilltrainer at Tau outside Stavanger, a training centre for drilling personnel. Jøssang took the view that an authentic, intact and fully equipped deck structure would be perfect for such learning. The centre accepted the offer, and the topside with control room and helideck was lifted off the column by a crane ship and moved to land.

TauThe steel column was to be towed to land and recycled. But Jøssang got another idea. He called the chair of the local marina in Tau and asked if they needed a new jetty. After some time for reflection, the answer was yes. Elf was surprised by the suggestion, but accepted it.

The column was towed ashore, moored and partially submerged. Its ends were sealed, and the whole structure was clad with wood for aesthetic reasons. Jøssang had thought of using the concrete foundation as a base for fish farming. Instead, however, it was pumped full of air to make it buoyant and then towed to land to serve as a foundation under the jetty at Tau.[REMOVE]Fotnote: Total’s website The platform column was supported at each end by half the foundation. This allowed water to flow freely under the jetty, ensuring an environment-friendly marina.

The 390-tonne template was also retrieved and taken to land. One of the Christmas trees (stack of valves) was preserved and donated to the Norwegian Petroleum Museum, while the structure was melted down and recycled. The hydraulic control lines linking template and control column were taken ashore and destroyed.