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MCP-01

Part way along the pipelines between the Frigg Field and St Fergus was the MCP-01 platform. It was used to switch gas between the two pipelines, compress the gas and to inspect and clean the pipelines.

MCP-01 was made in Sweden and towed into position in 1976, approximately 110 miles from Aberdeen. Like the other Frigg platforms, the platform’s name was derived from its function: Manifold Compression Platform number one. Manifolding is the switching of gas from one pipeline to another, for example, if one pipeline required maintenance work. As gas travelled hundreds of miles through the pipeline, its pressure fell, meaning less gas was transported in a given time. Compression facilities on MCP-01 gave the supply a boost. When installed in 1981, the compressors were the largest in the North Sea.

As other fields in the North Sea were discovered, it was easier to use the Frigg pipelines to take their gas ashore than construct new ones. MCP-01 provided a link for gas from other fields to enter the pipeline on its way to St Fergus.

Pipelines are cleaned and inspected for damage using plugs that exactly fit the diameter of the pipe. The squealing noise the plugs make when they travel through pipes gave rise to their name ‘pigs’. In the 1970s it was not possible to pig a pipeline as long as that from Frigg to St Fergus in one go, so worn pigs were replaced at MCP-01 for the second part of their journey.
MCP-01 Decommissioning Programme, 3rd Draft, 2006.
MS 3801/1/5/2
Although decommissioning was not originally planned until 2024, it was decided that it would be less risky and cheaper to decommission MCP-01 at the same time as the other Frigg platforms. As MCP-01 had not been designed with removal in mind, only the topsides are being removed, leaving the sub-structure in place. As the pipelines leading into the base of MCP-01 were still in use, they were re-routed before work started in 2006. Decommissioning will be carried out over several years.
General arrangement drawing of MCP-01, early 1980s.
MS 3801/1/3/17
Aerial photograph of MCP-01, 1994.
MS 3801/1/1/9
The platform was modified several times, with the most dramatic change made in 1992. MCP-01 was changed from having a permanent crew of 80 to becoming ‘Not-Normally Manned’ (NNM). This decision was influenced by the Piper Alpha tragedy, which led companies to reduce the number of people offshore. MCP-01 became the first platform in the area to be operated remotely from onshore, by the St Fergus gas terminal, with security cameras monitoring the platform 24 hours a day.