Norway’s decommissioning market has the potential to be the second largest in the North Sea after the UK Continental Shelf, according to Oil & Gas UK’s first Norwegian Continental Shelf Decommissioning Insight report.
The report, which provides a forecast for the region over the next decade, was unveiled today (16 February) at the Norwegian Petroleum Society’s North Sea Decommissioning conference in Oslo.
Oonagh Werngren, Oil & Gas UK’s operations director, said: “While the Norwegian oil and gas industry is less mature than the UK sector and decommissioning activity is in its infancy, the report shows there are 12 concrete facilities, 19 floating steel facilities, 88 steel facilities and nearly 350 subsea systems in place, most of which will eventually require decommissioning. An estimated 3000 wells will also need to be plugged and abandoned.
“Oil & Gas UK has worked together with the five key operators on the Norwegian Continental Shelf to analyze data that reveals there will be 23 decommissioning projects, ranging from small subsea tie-backs to full-scale integrated platform removals, between 2015 and 2024. With the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate estimating that decommissioning expenditure during this period could reach NOK 160 billion (US$18.5 billion), the activity represents a significant emerging business in the sector.”
The Norwegian Decommissioning Insight is the latest in a series of documents Oil & Gas UK has published to help the industry prepare for forthcoming decommissioning projects and follows the publication of the latest annual UK Decommissioning Insight in 2015.
Werngren added: “While decommissioning activities are steadily growing, the industry’s efforts are focused on maintaining offshore production in the North Sea for as long as it’s safe and economically possible to do. To sustain the health of the sector, we must help an efficient decommissioning market emerge as part of, and alongside, the industry’s continued and sustained program of capital investment in new developments. These insight reports will broaden understanding and increase visibility of the growing decommissioning market to enable the supply chain to develop the skills, technologies, expertise and cost-efficient solutions required by operators.”