Decommissioning
Plugging operations are scheduled to begin early 2026.
Global offshore decommissioning projects hear the starting gun in Australia and the North Sea, but will the race be a marathon or a sprint?
Delayed decommissioning has been a theme on the UK Continental Shelf thanks to legal, regulatory, and technical hurdles, the report says.
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Many operators are taking a full-life-cycle approach to preparing for decommissioning—a shift borne of necessity amid cost and regulatory constraints. -
With no money to be made, P&A is one area where operators can put aside their hyper-competitiveness to work together. Members of the recently formed PACE network discussed the virtues of collaboration at the Decommissioning and Abandonment Summit 2018.
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With $102 billion of decommissioning-related expenditure forecast to 2040 in Western Europe, opportunities are ripe for the supply chain to compete with innovative and cost-effective solutions for the E&P operators.
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The shutting in of unprofitable offshore wells and the requirements for their plugging and abandonment is attracting more attention to what is being done with the associated subsea equipment. The benefits of leaving subsea systems in place vs. recovering them are being considered.
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A new downhole-tool-based abandonment system was developed and deployed successfully on four wells for a major operator on a field in the North Sea.
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The supply chain is now actively working to develop low-cost solutions and is gaining valuable experience through recent projects (as documented in many recent SPE papers). Owners need to engage the supply chain early with the relevant asset data for planning and execution of decommissioning.
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The optimization model presented in the complete paper is the first multioperator offshore network-optimization model that considers decommissioning in the Netherlands.
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The complete paper describes how various P&A designs can be compared by use of a risk methodology that takes account of degradation mechanisms, potential flow rates, and the effect on the environment.
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Archer’s Stronghold Barricade well decommissioning system leaves the casing in place, while perforating, washing, and cementing the annulus to create a cement barrier in a single trip.
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Decommissioning experts in the UK examine the advantages and disadvantages of removing offshore installations vs. leaving them in place, discussing cost efficiencies, environmental factors, and long-term risks.
