Regulator OGA expects North Sea decom requests to soar

UK sector watchdog anticipating more than 100 requests

Oil firms are expected to hand in more than 100 UK North Sea decommissioning plans over the next two years.

Nils Cohrs, head of decommissioning at the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), said 45 were anticipated this year, followed by another 60 in 2019.

However, not all programmes involve the removal of large, manned platforms.

Some are likely to be modest, covering unmanned installations, pipelines and other subsea infrastructure.

The expected upturn comes as a number of east coast ports including Dundee and Montrose ready themselves for a boost from the decom sector.

Dundeecom is currently pursuing a joint venture with AF Gruppen of Norway to build out a decom hub in the city.

Mr Cohrs was citing projections from the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which is responsible for approving decommissioning programmes.

OGA estimated in June the bill to decommission assets in the North Sea would total £60 billion, but said it hoped to chop it down to £39bn or less.

At the start of January, Repsol Sinopec Resources UK lodged draft proposals for decommissioning an export pipeline for the Rev field.

Mr Cohrs said it had been a quiet start to the year as firms weigh costs.

The cost of crude is also a factor, with firms unable to afford to decommission infrastructure when prices are low and operators keen to keep mature assets producing when the price is higher.

However, Mr Cohrs said the higher oil prices seen at the start of 2018 “should not stop companies planning”.

He said operators should start thinking about how they will decommission their fields “six years” ahead of production being stopped.

He added that the sharing of experiences and learning of lessons could help lower decommissioning costs for the UK Continental Shelf.

An oil rig leg being decommissioned at AF Vats, Norway.