The large platform that will dismantle the Castor arrives in Vinaròs

TarragonaThe large platform that will seal the Castor warehouse and remove part of the structure arrived at its destination this Tuesday, where it will remain for at least the eight months that the work is expected to last. The operation to unload the large platform and tow it to the Castor warehouse took place early Tuesday morning, off the port of Tarragona.

The platform, called Noble Resolve, arrived in Tarragona last Sunday from Denmark, towed by the specialized heavy-lift ship. Xiang Rui Kou (Cosco). In order to tow it to the Vinaròs coast, it was necessary to first unload it and allow it to float in the water before towing it to the Castor.

The discharge of the jack-up It had to be carried out a mile from the port, out at sea, because the maneuver requires a lot of depth. First, a part of the ship carrying it is submerged to make it float. That dive alone already lasts four hours. jack-up There is a crew of 50 people, and during these maneuvers, eight of them have had to stay on board to direct the operation. Once the platform is floating, its watertightness is checked and, if everything is correct, it is unloaded, while it is secured to the four tugboats that drove it to Vinaròs. Once there, the jack-up It is installed next to the smaller of the two platforms that make up the Castor and deploys its three large iron legs to lift itself and stand above the sea. Before sealing the wells, the temporary plugs that were installed inside the pipes in April 2016 must first be recovered. The useful life of these plugs is between two and four years, but Enagás sources assure that they are in good condition and should not complicate the operation. The pipes will then have to be thoroughly cleaned, since "the presence of tar has been detected in some of them," according to preliminary reports. Cement plugs must be installed and the pipes recovered.

The work to seal the 13 Castor wells and transport the pipelines will be carried out by the company Enagás, commissioned by the state government, and the cost (approximately €76 million) will be covered with public funds. What was intended to be a natural gas storage facility has been closed since 2013, when the first injections were made, triggering earthquakes that reached the coast. The two Castor platforms that can be seen from the coast will not yet be removed because they are part of another operation with no timetable.