Offshore staff
LONDON — Four leading U.K. North Sea operators are looking to reduce their subsea decommissioning costs by 50%.
According to Britain’s North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), CNR International, EnQuest, TAQA and TotalEnergies assess their combined decommissioning outlay for their U.K. Continental Shelf subsea infrastructure over the next 15 years at £1 billion ($1.24 billion).
This accounts for a quarter of the forecast subsea infrastructure decommissioning bill for the entire basin.
During a webinar hosted by the Decom North Sea association, the operators opened engagement with suppliers to identify assistance in technical and technological innovation.
They will consider whether combining the work in a single package could lead to new approaches that cut the costs of their decommissioning burden.
The NSTA has developed a map and a dataset of the North Sea assets, accessible at its website.
All four operators initially discussed combining their decommissioning activity in one portfolio in 2018, then narrowed the focus to subsea infrastructure. They have the Subsea Decommissioning Collaboration (SDC) and signed a charter to guide their ongoing work.
According to the NSTA, the new dataset has brought an improvement in the volume and quality of published data, and the SDC is seeking feedback on how it could be improved further.
05.11.2022
