The delivery of a North Sea oil platform to Lerwick highlights the Shetland port’s status as a “centre of excellence” for decommissioning, a joint-venture has said.

The topside module and jacket of Spirit Energy’s ST-1 installation today arrived at the Dales Voe facility for dismantling by environmental services business Veolia and logistics firm Peterson.

Veolia and Peterson have worked together on decommissioning projects for about a decade and recently scrapped Repsol Sinopec’s Buchan Alpha platform at Dales Voe.

They also operate sites in Great Yarmouth and Lutelandet, Norway.

ST-1 is made up of a 150ft high, 1,300 tonne steel jacket and topsides weighing in at 1,200 tonnes.

It was originally installed in 1994 in the Greater Markham Area in the southern North Sea.

Production stopped in April 2016 and the structures were subsequently removed in two single lifts by Seaway 7’s heavy lifting vessel, Seaway Strashnov.

Veolia decommissioning director Martin O’Donnell said: “This work follows the successful recovery operations carried out at the facility, and really demonstrates how collaboration across the supply chain can deliver greater sustainability.

“We have already recycled over 80,000 tonnes of materials and created new job opportunities to meet the growing demand for decommissioning”

James Johnson, decommissioning manager at Peterson added: “This project is a great showcase of how our collaboration with Veolia is enabling us to provide a full decommissioning service which provides a better customer experience.

“We are pleased to be involved in the ongoing development of Dales Voe as a centre of excellence for decommissioning for the North Sea.”