The last of the Gyda jacket says goodbye

Though the majority of Repsol Norge’s Gyda Oil Field jacket was dismantled in September 2022, the very last pieces of the jacket were removed just recently. 100% of the Gyda jacket can now be recycled.

The large six-legged jacket, for the Gyda oil field in the Norwegian North Sea discovered in 1980, was delivered by the Kvaerner-owned Aker Verdal yard in Nord-Trøndelag, Norway, in 1989. The steel jacket structure weighed around 8,300 tonnes. The Gyda oil field started producing on 21 June 1990, and production was abandoned in 2018, when the production licence expired. By this time the platform topside weighed 18,400 tonnes and the supporting jackets 11,500 tonnes.

Repsol obtained permission from Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority for the removal and disposal of the platform last September. The topside was removed by Allseas’s Pioneering Spirit in a record-breaking single lift on 22 May 2022 and brought to Akers Solutions decommissioning yard in Stord, Norway, on 24 May 2022. The jacket was then removed on 18 July 2022 and brought to the Aker yard the next day. The removal and transportation of the Gyda offshore platform took 12 days and was completed on July 19th, 2022.

According to Thomas Nygård, senior vice president decommission at Aker Solutions, “We toppled the first part of it early fall last year, and on 9 December 2022, the remaining 5,000 tonnes were sent to the ground. A couple of days ago, the very last piece of the Gyda jacket was dismantled and sent for recycling. Another great contribution to the circular economy and another great achievement for our fantastic decommission team in Aker Solutions and as promised: 100% of the Gyda jacket will be recycled.” This figure is higher than the 98% announced last year.