The Indefatigable gasfield, consisting of fixed steel platforms known as Juliet-D, Juliet-P, Kilo, Lima, Mike and November located in Blocks 49/19 and 49/24 on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf, has reached the end of its economic life. Following application from the Indefatigable field operator, Shell U.K. Limited (Shell), and co-venturer, Esso Exploration and Production UK Limited (Esso), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) granted consent to cease production on or after 01/10/04.
The field was discovered in 1966 and was brought on stream in 1971 and lies some 75km off the East Anglian coast. It has been subjected to various upgrades to improve and maximise production during its lifetime, including additional platforms M,N in the 1980’s, upgrade, demanning and compressor reconfiguration in mid 1990’s and installation of an eductor to further lower suction pressure in 2001. Production from the Indefatigable Field (Shell Side) ceased on 5th July 2005. At Cessation of Production, it is estimated that the Shell/Esso side of the Inde field had produced 1793.6 bscf (49.9 BCM) of natural gas and 3.6 MMbbl (0.57 MMm3) of condensate.
As the facilities no longer serve their intended purpose, the operator and co-venturer have prepared the Decommissioning Programmes covering the elements of the Indefatigable facilities corresponding to separate Notices.
The Lima platform is an integrated six-leg platform supporting six wells. The jacket structure is unique in that it is narrower at one end to facilitate jack-up legs to be placed on either side for drilling. The integrated deck was installed in a single lift. The cellar deck level contains wellheads, manifolds, tankage and facilities associated with the gas production. Power generation, control rooms, crane and limited accommodation and messing facilities are located on the top deck level along with a tall vent stack and a helideck. More details