After years of successful oil and gas production, many of the structures in the North Sea are coming to the end of their expected lifespan and under current legislation, over 90% of these structures need to be completely removed and brought on-shore for re-use and/or recycling. This represents a huge challenge to the industry and Squibb Group, as an affiliated member of Decom North Sea, is working closely with industry regulators and government bodies to assess and formulate effective contracting strategies for the removal of these structures in a technically feasible and safe manner.
Squibb Group started work in the Oil & Gas/Petrochemical industry in the 1970’s at the Thames hinterland refineries of Coryton, Shellhaven and Canvey Island, eventually becoming a “partner” to Mobil Oil. Amongst some of the major projects undertaken was the demolition of a Catalytic Cracker Column, executed using a Tower Crane.
Squibb Group were recognised as the first contractor to utilise such a crane on a project of this nature and were widely acknowledged for such an innovative approach. As a natural progression Squibb Group started to look at the forthcoming opportunities for decommissioning offshore and initially on behalf of Kinsail, carried out feasibility studies covering the removal of several gas platforms in the South Irish Sea.
