Removal and deconstruction of Maureen Alpha Platform. The world largest gravity based steel platform

After 16 years of field production, the Phillips Maureen Alpha Platform (110.000 tons) was refloated and towed from the field in June 2001 to a deep water mooring site on the West coast of Norway, for deconstruction. To date, this platform is the largest and heaviest offshore production platform to be removed from an offshore location as part of decommissioning operations. At its inshore location, the modules were lifted from the floating platform prior to being submerged to facilitate de-mating the deck onto a barge and subsequent onshore skidding operation. The substructure and storage tanks were cut in smaller pieces whilst maintaining an even distribution of weight whilst floating. These smaller pieces were transferred to onshore for further deconstruction. All of the complicated engineering and delicate marine operations went completely according to plan. The final reuse/recycle figure for the platform and the loading buoy amounts to 99.5%.