Spirit Energy completes £40m North Sea decommissioning campaign

Spirit Energy has concluded a £40 million decommissioning campaign in the Southern North Sea, marking the completion of plug and abandonment operations on three key wells. The project involved the Seven Seas and Grove G5 production wells, alongside the Grove Deep exploration well. By combining these operations into a single campaign, the operator successfully removed more than 234 tonnes of subsea infrastructure. The work was delivered over a four-month period ending in July this year, with Spirit Energy collaborating with 30 UK supply chain partners, including DeepOcean and WellSafe.

The operator, in which Centrica holds a 60% stake, stated that all recovered materials are set to be reused or recycled in UK yards. Matt Browell-Hook, director of energy transition and decommissioning at Spirit, described the outcome as particularly pleasing. He noted that the campaign demonstrated effective collaboration between operators and contracting companies, citing the success as a testament to the expertise present across the UK supply chain. The project aligned with the best practices outlined in the North Sea Transition Authority’s Decommissioning Charter, an agreement signed in August 2026 by the authority and 17 major operators to reduce costs, delays, and environmental impacts associated with abandoning disused wells.

Over their commissioned lifecycles, the Seven Seas and Grove G5 wells collectively produced 56 billion cubic feet of gas, sufficient to heat more than 2.5 million homes for a year. Grove G5 produced from 2008 to 2019, while Seven Seas operated from 2012 until ceasing production in 2024. DeepOcean’s construction support vessel, Edda Freya, carried out enabling works at both locations. At Seven Seas, situated approximately 60km off the East Yorkshire coast, the team removed a 100-tonne Wellhead Protection Structure. The vessel then moved to Grove G5, located 131km east of the Norfolk coast, where remotely operated vehicles were used to disconnect subsea infrastructure. WellSafe’s jack-up rig and WellSafe Protector were subsequently deployed to both sites to complete reservoir abandonment activities before returning to Aberdeen.

Ceri Wheaton, Spirit’s decommissioning manager, identified adverse and unpredictable weather as significant challenges during the operation. She emphasised that close working across Spirit’s teams and with contracting companies was critical to the project’s success. The completion of this campaign represents a significant step in the broader decommissioning of North Sea assets, reflecting the collaborative approach adopted by UK operators to manage the end-of-life phase of offshore infrastructure efficiently.