Wedoany.com Report on Mar 18th, The decommissioning of the Amethyst and Galahad fields in the southern North Sea has been completed by Petrodec Obana, marking the first decommissioning project for this heavy-lift jack-up platform. Petrodec, a member of the Dixstone group, carried out the work for its affiliate Perenco. The Obana platform removed the jacket and topsides from the Galahad field, as well as the jackets from three installations at the Amethyst field.

The Obana platform has now returned to the dedicated decommissioning yard in Vlissingen-Oost, the Netherlands, where the dismantling of the jackets is set to commence. Rainier Verhulst, General Manager of Petrodec, stated that the platform has proven its worth: "It has become clear that its immense size allows decommissioning operations to be carried out safely at unparalleled speed and scale. Obana will play a significant role in fulfilling our clients' decommissioning obligations for many years to come."

Perenco applied in 2020 to decommission four platforms, which were acquired from BP in 2012. Rising costs and declining gas production made continued operation uneconomical. The Obana platform was completed in 2025 by Damen Shipyards, integrating the Brage and Gabrus drilling rigs. A new mid-section equipped with a 2,000-ton crane was constructed by a shipyard in Dubai, with Petrodec collaborating with Seatrium on the design.

Petrodec plans to use the Obana platform for complex decommissioning work in water depths of up to 65 meters. In the southern North Sea, Energean could become a potential client for Obana for its Tors and Wenlock projects. The company stated that Obana "will be a crucial component in our decommissioning program."