Neptune Energy announced the award of a decommissioning contract to Maersk Supply Service (MSS) for the Juliet field in the UK Southern North Sea, which will deploy innovative technology to reduce the time and costs associated with the removal of the subsea infrastructure.

Piping spools and umbilicals will be removed using the Utility ROV Services system (UTROV), a remotely-operated tool carrier equipped with multiple attachments for the recovery of subsea equipment, reducing the necessity for multiple vessels and equipment providers to carry out the complex work.

The UTROV system was previously used for work on the Juliet field in 2019 and will be deployed from the Maersk Forza Subsea Support Vessel.

Neptune Energy’s UK Managing Director, Alexandra Thomas, said: “Work on decommissioning Juliet is progressing well and the activities undertaken by MSS will finalise the work on the pipelines and enable us to move forward with plugging and abandonment operations.

”The use of such innovative technologies is enabling operators to reduce the time, costs and environmental impacts associated with such operations, and ensures the safe and efficient removal of decommissioned subsea infrastructure.”

Maersk Supply Service’s Head of Integrated Solutions, Olivier Trouvé, said: “We are looking forward to mobilizing our engineering capabilities and specialised assets to provide safe and efficient operations.”

The Juliet subsea assets were installed in 2013. Production ceased in 2017 and formal cessation of production was approved in December 2018 by the OGA. The Juliet Subsea completion is located in block 47/14b of the UK Southern North Sea. The Juliet facilities comprise two subsea wells tied back to the Pickerill ‘A’ Platform, which is owned and operated by Perenco (PUK).

The decommissioning work will be carried out in early 2022.

About Neptune Energy Group

Neptune Energy is an independent global E&P company with operations across Europe, North Africa and Asia Pacific. The business had production of 142,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2020 and 2P reserves at 31st December 2020 of 601 million barrels of oil equivalent. The Company, founded by Sam Laidlaw, is backed by CIC and funds advised by Carlyle Group and CVC Capital Partners.