Rigging the market – more cash available to deal with North Sea platforms
Companies looking to enter the decomissioning sector can access new funds, writes Angus Howarth
An additional £5 million has been made available to the supply chain in Scotland to help maximise the economic benefit from the decommissioning of North Sea infrastructure.
Energy minister Paul Wheelhouse announced the Decommissioning Challenge Fund (DCF) will reopen for a third round of funding during a visit to Aberdeen to meet the new CEOS of Decom North Sea and Aberdeen Harbour, John Warrender and Michelle Handforth.
After grant awards of £4.8 million in 2017, the DCF 3 will continue to support infrastructure upgrades at Scotland’s ports, innovation in retrieval and transport approaches, as well as supply chain projects that will strengthen Scottish decommissioning capabilities and capacities. It can also support engineering scoping work, feasibility studies and business development at key sites to help attract further private investment.
Alongside the Decommissioning Action Plan, launched by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise at the end of 2016, the fund will help Scotland’s oil and gas sector make the most of decommissioning opportunities at home and abroad.
Mr Wheelhouse said: “This round of the DCF includes capital and resource funding, and widens its scope of potential projects with support now also available for business development.
“Funding and assistance is available for projects that will contribute to making Scotland a world leader in decommissioning. We fully recognise that decommissioning is an emerging, but growing, activity in the North Sea. More than £17 billion is expected to be spent in the North Sea to 2025, with the peak for decommissioning activity in this area predicted to go beyond this.
“Scotland’s supply chain is winning the lion’s share of project value in areas like well-plugging and abandonment, but there is room to further increase market share in salvage and disposal of topside infrastructure.
“The budget for the DCF in 2018-19 will reflect the projects coming forward, and our ambition is to match the £5 million successfully awarded last year, however there is flexibility for this to increase if demand is demonstrated.”