September 8 - AF Decom Offshore, a specialist company in the removal, demolition, environmental reconstruction and recycling of buildings, industrial plants and offshore installations, has opened an Aberdeen office to target the emerging UK market.

Kenny Anderson, a mechanical engineer with over 13 years' experience in the decommissioning industry, has been appointed project manager by AF Decom Offshore UK to head up the office.

Norwegian-headquartered AF Decom Offshore, part of AF Gruppen ASA, says that targeting the UK sector - from northern waters to the southern basin - is in line with global expansion plans.

The company's UK operations and the office in Aberdeen were officially launched during this week's Offshore Europe in Aberdeen where AF Decom Offshore is exhibiting on the Lerwick - Shetland stand.

"These moves are designed to place the company in prime position in this emerging market, and follow an exclusive agreement with Lerwick Port Authority to develop a deep-water facility at Dales Voe to decommission major structures," Mr Anderson explained. "Excellent progress is being made with the base which is at the design stage, with the Environmental Assessment nearing completion."

Dales Voe will be modelled on AF Decom's Vats base in Norway, one of the most advanced deep-water decommissioning facilities in Europe, with the experience gained during the last seven years whilst operating Vats ensuring that the base in Shetland becomes one of the premier decommissioning sites in the UK.

Decommissioning projects to date include on Ekofisk, in the Norwegian sector, and Indefatigable and the Kittiwake loading buoy, in the UK southern North Sea and central respectively - with more than 140,000 tonnes of scrap material processed and recycled in total. AF Decom's most recent contract award was from Statoil in June 2011 to remove the H-7 platform, in the German sector.

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