DOF Bags Shell’s Decommissioning Contract for Knarr and Gaupe Fields

March 12, 2024

Skandi Hera AHTS vessel (Credit: DOF Group)

Norwegian offshore vessel operator DOF Group has secured a ‘substantial’ subsea engineering procurement removal and disposal (EPRD) contract from Norske Shell in the Atlantic region.

The contract outlines 100 combined days of utilization of DOF’s vessels Skandi Hera and Maersk Installer.

DOF will deliver an integrated solution of project management, engineering, design, analysis and survey.

Described as ‘substantial’ by DOF, this means that the contract is valued between $23.8 million and $47.8 million (NOK 250 million to NOK 500 million).

The scope includes recovery and recycling of umbilicals, risers, rigid spools, manifolds and other subsea structures and infrastructure, at the Knarr and Gaupe fields.

Gaupe is an oil and gas field close to the boundary with the UK shelf, around 12 km south of Varg, and in 90-meter water depth. Knarr is an oil field in the North Sea, around 50 km north-east of Snorre.

"The award continues to demonstrate DOF’s inhouse capability of offering turnkey solutions to our existing and new customers, building on our established capability offering in the decommissioning market,” said Mons S. Aase, CEO DOF Group.

Preparations for the decommissioning operations have started and the project will be run from DOF’s offices in Bergen and Aberdeen with offshore execution planned in the second and third quarter of 2025.

Skandi Hera is a 2009-built Anchor Handling Tug Supply (AHTS) vessel of Ulstein A122 design. It is suitable for field installation operations across a wide range of water depths and conditions.

Maersk Installer has been added to DOF’s fleet in November 2023, through a two-year firm time charter with Maersk Supply Service, with extension options.

Delivered in 2017, Maersk Installer is a large construction vessel and, according to DOF, is amongst the newest and most modern subsea vessels on the market.

It is equipped with a 400-ton AHC crane and a 100-ton AHC crane to give maximum flexibility for utilizing the large, 1850 m2 deck.