UK Increases Spending to Decommission Offshore North Sea Fields
The UK’s North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) latest report on the costs and performance of decommissioning UK offshore facilities shows that the industry has spent a total of around £8bn between 2017 and 2022.
New figures show that the North Sea oil and gas industry spent £1.6bn in 2022 decommissioning excess wells and infrastructure. This is more than in any of the previous five years.
Activity levels are expected to remain high, with around £2bn a year spent on decommissioning over the next decade and all cleanup and infrastructure removal obligations to be met once production ceases at the fields.
NSTA is also promoting the use of its Energy Pathfinder portal, which informs about upcoming tenders, and expects more operators to support and contribute to the Decommissioning Data Mapping project launched in 2021 with the Decommissioning Task Force. exploitation and repurposing (DaRT).
Bob Fennell, DaRT co-chairman and executive vice president of North Sea Harbor Energy, said: “It is critical that North Sea operators work together to ensure that oil and gas assets that, at the end of their production life, cannot be repurposed to support new technologies. such as carbon capture and storage have been decommissioned safely and most cost-effectively. Collaboration and data sharing is an important first step in providing the transparency and confidence in the supply chain needed to meet UK demand for such work in a timely and competitive manner.”
The British North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) is responsible for maximizing the economic recovery of oil from the North Sea, and is authorized to license and regulate oil and gas related activities in the United Kingdom, including oil and gas exploration, carbon capture and storage and offshore gas storage.
