North Sea Platform is Refloated, Removed and, Hopefully, Reused
After producing 200 million barrels of oil from beneath the North Sea over 17 years, the 110,000-tonne Maureen Alpha platform was removed from the bed, in late June, and refloated in a 60-hour operation, to be returned to land. The 241-m-tall steel gravity structure had been "uniquely" engineered to allow possible reuse, according to the owner, though chances of finding a buyer with the same needs seem remote.