North West Hutton

North West Hutton is a large steel platform installed in 1981 comprising drilling, production and accommodation facilities in a water depth of 143 m. The total topsides weight is around 20.000 tonnes. The base structure (jacket) consists of an 8 leg, X-braced steel space frame fixed to the sea bed. The total jacket weight is 17.500 tonnes including the weight of the piles. North West Hutton ceased production in July 2002 and since July 2004 has been classified as a 'normally unattended installation'. The decommissioning program requires that the topsides and steel jacket are completely removed for recycling onshore in the UK and are taken to the Able yard on Tees side, where it is estimated that 97% of the material recovered will be recycled. This picture was taken from the 'Retriever',shortly after anchoring out the 'Hermod' on the south side of the platform and the barge H-627 taken alongside for loading the first decommissioned modules.