Legato® Blocks Installed to Hold Decommissioned Oil Rigs for Demolishing

Elite Precast Concrete's Legato® interlocking blocks have shown their versatility and durability once again, having been called upon to help with the health and safety of people and infrastructure when decommissioning oil rigs from the North Sea.

Every year more and more oil and gas fields are being shut, leading to hundreds of wells being decommissioned. It is estimated that between 2023 and 2032 operators are expected to spend approximately £24bn on decommissioning alone. With this mind, long-term solutions are required to keep people, infrastructure and the surrounding areas safe. Ensuring compliance with decommissioning rules & regulations and leaving the marine environment clean and safe after use will also be a priority.

So, when Kishorn Port Limited (KPL), a joint venture between Leiths (Scotland) Ltd and Ferguson Transport (Spean Bridge) Ltd began the retiring of North Sea oil rigs at Kishorn Yard in Strathcarron, they wanted to create as safe an environment as possible to do so.

KPL is unique in its geography, with an almost unlimited water depth just off the port in the Sound of Raasay and an 80m deep channel in Loch Kishorn with 100m plus deep sheltered berths in the Sound of Raasay.

With the dry dock being the largest in Europe with a 160m diameter with 13.8m of water at MHWS, equipment can be trialled in safe, low risk conditions within the dry dock, even in the harshest of winter conditions.

As part of the dry dock area, Elite Precast manufactured 1,300 Legato® concrete blocks that were delivered by Elite's delivery partner, Shropshire Express Deliveries (SED) and installed to hold the decommissioned oil rigs for demolishing, recycling and disposal of the platform in dry dock.

With oil platforms weighing up to 11,500 tonnes, stakeholders determined the safest methodologies possible and determined using Legato blocks as part of the plan.

Owen Batham, Sales and Marketing Director for Elite Precast said, "our haulage partner, SED successfully delivered the blocks during the winter, facing snow and heavy rainfall. This project just shows the range of applications that Legato blocks can be used for and the trust stakeholders hold in Elite."