Taqa is today marking 40 years since start-up of production on the Brae oilfield in the North Sea.
Since then, Brae has produced billions of barrels for its operators over four decades, with yet more to come.
Brae Alpha is among the oldest operating platforms in the UK industry.
It struck first oil on July 12 1983, following construction at McDermott’s yard in Ardersier, near Inverness,
The Brae Bravo and East Brae installations followed in 1988 and 1993 respectively.
There’s been plenty of change on the oilfield, including two shifts of operatorship, from Marathon Oil to Rockrose – by a sale – and then to Taqa via a court-sanctioned transfer.
Earlier this year Taqa submitted plans to decommission the Alpha platform, about 170 miles north-east of Aberdeen.
A window of 2025 to 2028 has been set for dismantling the topside and jacket, weighing 33,800 tonnes and 20,000 tonnes respectively.
Taqa has already carried out a series of high-profile decommissioning jobs on the field, including the removal of Brae Bravo’s topsides in 2021.
David Wilson, head of decommissioning at the Middle East firm said last year Taqa would “probably remove all of the assets we have operating at the moment” by the early 2030s.
Along with plans for the remainder of the Brae field, the Abu Dhabi-headquartered operator has removal schemes for Eider, Tern, North Cormorant and Cormorant Alpha coming up.
