Journal of Petroleum Technology, Vol.52, No.4, 56-57, 2000
Removal of the Maureen steel gravity platform
The Maureen drilling, production, and oil-storage platform is in 95.6 m of water on the U.K. Continental Shelf and consists of a large integrated deck structure with production, drilling, and quarters facilities, which in turn is supported by a steel gravity-platform structure with an integral 1.03 x 10(5) m(3) oil storage. The Maureen platform and the field development are unique. The platform was installed in 1983 and is nearing the end of its useful life. it is planned to remove the platform from the seabed and row the complete structure to a safe inshore deepwater anchorage to make modifications necessary for platform reuse or to complete onshore disposal of the entire platform. This paper addresses the main technical problems and procedures associated with the extraction of the 1.1 x 10(5) Mg platform from the seabed, subsequent deballasting to towing draft, and tow to a deepwater inshore location.