A university in Scotland has launched a "world-first" simulator for decommissioning activities in the UK North Sea and further afield.
Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University (RGU) in collaboration with funding partners The Oil & Gas Technology Centre, KCA Deutag and Drilling Systems, with technical support from Baker Hughes, a GE Company, has established the simulator to focus on well-plugging and abandonment (P&A).
P&A activity is forecast to cost the UK more than £8 billion over the next decade, with some 2500 wells expected to be decommissioned across the UK, Danish, Dutch and Norwegian Continental Shelves.
The simulator can support both oil and gas operators and service companies with the planning and preparation for well P&A, in a similar way pilots get trained and tested on flight simulators.
Through RGU's partnership with The Oil & Gas Technology, the simulator will also create opportunities to develop and test new technologies.
Professor Paul de Leeuw, Director of RGU’s Oil and Gas Institute, says: “Operators and drilling contractors will be able to use the simulator to develop the technical and non-technical skills and capabilities of their rig crews for decommissioning wells, while improving team performance."
Students will also benefit from training and development on the simulator.