CUT Technologies Snags North Sea Removal Projects

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As the main contractors to BP for the removal of the redundant North West Hutton oil platform, Heerema Marine Contractors Netherlands (HMC) awarded a major contract to Cutting Underwater Technologies (CUT).

The contract calls for the use of CUT's Diamond Wire Cutting Machines to sever various jacket members of the platform before they are lifted to the surface for recycling.

Located in Block 211/27a of the UK sector of the North Sea, CUT will use its standard DWCMs with capabilities of 10, 18, 30 and 50 inches, along with a unique modular machine, specially designed and built in-house by Tecnospamec, which has a cutting capability range of 60 to 120 inches.

"Being part of the Tecnospamec Group with their capability to design, engineer and build special, 'one-off' machines allows cut to meet any particular client requirement that lies out with our standard range of Diamond Wire Cutting Machines," commented Duncan Griffiths, CUT's sales and marketing manager.

Testing done while competing for the contract allowed CUT to demonstrate its technology's capabilities by using a 550 ton capacity test rig to simulate the cutting of a jacket leg under the type of compressing load it would encounter offshore. The test showed that the Diamond Wire could sever the target piece without becoming trapped before it finished the cut.

Standing in 144 meter deep water, 130 kilometers northeast of the Shetland Islands, CUT's contract is for both the 2008 and 2009 campaigns initially in a contingency basis and then an operational role.

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