KeyFacts Energy today provide an 'at a glance' recap on global decommissioning activity in 2022:

December 2022: Repsol Sinopec awarded a decommissioning contract to Liberty Industrial for the decontamination, demolition and site remediation of Nigg Oil Terminal.

Planning and engineering work will begin in December 2022, with decommissioning activity commencing in 2023 and expected to continue until 2025. The site will be handed back to the leaseholder (Global Energy Group) at the end of 2025.

December 2022: Net Zero Technology Centre are accelerating the pace at which well decommissioning technology is qualified and commercialised to reach the industry target of a minimum of 35% cost reduction and 50% emissions reduction in well decommissioning by 2035.

The Well Decommissioning Collaboration Initiative has been established by the Net Zero Technology Centre and actively supported by the Technology Leadership Board (TLB), North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) and Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) to support these targets.

Financial investment from the operator consortium enables new technologies to be trialled and tested in multi-operator collaboration field trials, enabling faster, lower-cost and wider industry adoption.

A total of up to £1.5 million annual funding is available to support field trials and test innovative well decommissioning technology ideas.

November 2022: The Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC) has announced Harbour Energy, ConocoPhillips, Spirit Energy and Repsol Sinopec as members of its well decommissioning collaboration initiative. 

Actively supported by the Technology Leadership Board (TLB), North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) and Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), the well decommissioning initiative will enable new technologies to be trialled and tested in multi-operator collaboration field trials – both offshore in the UK and onshore in some international locations – enabling faster, lower-cost trials and wider industry adoption in the UK and beyond.

The NSTA has identified that well decommissioning represents circa 46% of UKCS decommissioning costs, or an estimated £20bn spend over the life of the basin. 

November 2022: Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), published its latest Decommissioning Insight.

Over two thousand North Sea wells involved in oil and gas extraction are to be decommissioned at a cost of around £20bn over the next decade, says a new industry forecast. 

The report finds UK decommissioning is expanding fast and predicts a surge in activity over the next 3-4 years. It says the sector will continue growing as other emerging offshore energy technologies, like offshore wind farms, also require the service.  

It is estimated around 2,100 North Sea wells will be decommissioned over the next decade – around 200 per year – at an average cost of £7.8m per well.  

October 2022: Helix Energy Solutions today announced a deepwater well decommissioning contract award by Shell Brasil. The project, located offshore Brazil in the Campos Basin, is expected to commence early 2024 for a minimum firm period of 12 months, plus customer options to extend.

The scope of work includes plug and abandonment services on subsea wells located in the Bijupira and Salema fields. Under the contract Helix will provide the riser-based well intervention vessel Q7000, a 10k Intervention Riser System (IRS), and remotely operated vehicles.  

October 2022: Petrofac officially took over operatorship of the Northern Endeavour FPSO (Floating Production, Storage and Offtake) facility on behalf of the Australian Government. This major milestone is a huge step in the landmark decommissioning contract which heralds the start of an era of decommissioning in the nation’s offshore oil and gas sector.

Petrofac’s Australian team based in Perth, Western Australia, was contracted approximately six months ago to complete Phase 1 of the decommissioning of the Northern Endeavour FPSO by the Australian Government’s Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR).

October 2022: EnQuest has opted for Pioneering Spirit’s single-lift technology for the removal of the Heather Alpha platform topsides in the UK northern North Sea.

The UK oil and gas company has awarded Allseas the engineering, preparation, removal and disposal contract for the near 13,000-tonne topsides.

Heather is a fully integrated offshore installation consisting of modular topsides and piled steel jacket, located approximately 460 km northeast of Aberdeen in a water depth of 143 m. It is a fixed installation providing manned production, drilling, and utilities facilities.

Preparations will begin next year with the lift itself scheduled for 2025.

September 2022: Well-Safe Solutions and Neptune Energy agreed a contract for the Well-Safe Protector jack-up rig to plug and abandon (P&A) at least four subsea and 21 platform wells in the Dutch and UK sectors of the North Sea.

The one-year, firm contract also enables Neptune Energy to take up Well-Safe’s broad range of decommissioning engineering services if required, as well as the option of up to eight three-month extensions.

August 2022: Helix Robotics Solutions, secured the award of a 180-day firm-plus-options contract by a local Thailand contractor to perform decommissioning services using the subsea construction vessel Grand Canyon II.

The contract scope of work includes DP3 vessel services, crane support and ROV services in connection with subsea well abandonment and decommissioning operations in multiple Thailand offshore fields and is scheduled to begin in the late fourth quarter 2022.

August 2022: The cost of decommissioning oil and gas infrastructure has been cut by 25% in the past five years, according to the latest estimates published by The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA). The Decommissioning Cost Estimate Report 2022 highlights industry’s ability to generate huge savings for the Exchequer and carry out projects in a more cost-effective manner. 

The forecast fell £1.5bn (2%) to £44.5bn last year – contributing to a total cut of £15bn (25%) since 2017, when the NSTA introduced a baseline estimate of £59.7bn and set a target of reducing costs by 35% to £39bn by end-2022.

July 2022: Heerema Marine Contractors announced the award of a decommissioning contract by Woodside Energy that includes the integrated engineering, preparation, removal, and transport of the Nganhurra RTM.

The work involves removing the RTM from the Enfield field, located approx. 52 km northwest of Exmouth in Western Australia, by lifting the structure in one piece onto a barge and transporting the structure to Henderson or other suitable Australian port for dismantling and recycling or reuse.

July 2022: Well decommissioning specialists Well-Safe Solutions have signed an agreement to plug and abandon (P&A) 14 wells on the UK continental shelf.

The deal is the first scope agreed for the Well-Safe Defender semi-submersible rig, which Well-Safe Solutions purchased in June 2022.

The project, for an undisclosed value, will see the Well-Safe Defender mobilising in March 2023 for approximately 250 days of work.

July 2022: Decom Engineering has secured two contracts worth more than £300,000 in the North Sea and offshore west Africa, strengthening their reputation as a leading provider of decommissioning services.

June 2022: Well management expert, Exceed announced the award of a milestone, vessel-based well plugging and abandonment campaign to be carried out in partnership with Mermaid Subsea Services UK (Mermaid) on behalf of four operators.

The result of a tranche of initial bids from the strategic partnership builds upon Exceed’s 130+ well abandonment track record and is the company’s largest vessel-based well P&A campaign to date, whilst representing Mermaid’s entry into the North Sea marketplace.  

June 2022: Global energy consultancy Xodus established a new Contaminant Advisory Group to help tackle the decommissioning regulatory challenges facing operators in Australia.

The group, which includes representatives from ANSTO, SA Radiation, Total Hazardous Integrated Solutions and Qa3, has been formed in response to the Australian Government’s Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment Bill which aims to strengthen and clarify Australia’s offshore oil and gas regulatory framework.

The Contaminant Advisory Group has been created to provide advice and integrated solutions on the best approach to decommissioning and the associated contamination issues. The members’ combined capabilities and experience will evaluate potential contamination risks for offshore and onshore infrastructure (both in-situ and through the disposal or recycling pathways), particularly in relation to naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) and mercury, common by-products during oil and gas extraction.

June 2022: Well-Safe Solutions have been contracted by Ithaca Energy to plug and abandon (P&A) six wells on the Anglia Platform in the Southern North Sea, approximately 55km from the UK mainland.

The contract – for an undisclosed sum – will see the Aberdeen-based well decommissioning specialists provide project management, well engineering and all managed delivery services for the project.

May 2022: Claxton, a brand in marine energy and infrastructure services company Acteon, signed a collaboration agreement with Norwegian-based supplier Seabed Solutions to add value to decommissioning projects, helping operators fulfil their obligation to return subsea sites to their natural state. The partnership simplifies procurement, increases project execution efficiency and reduces costs for infrastructure owners by offering a wider range of dredging, excavation, cutting and decommissioning equipment and services through one contract, a single interface and by using a combined offshore crew.

Claxton, which sits in Acteon’s Energy Services division, and Seabed Solutions have extensive subsea experience, respectively. Claxton has had an operational presence in Norway for over nine years and expanded its base in 2019 to meet industry demand. Seabed Solutions was established in 2015 by a management team which has decades of experience leading the Norwegian seabed intervention market.

May 2022: The National Decommissioning Centre (NDC) is heading a £2 million project to construct a world-leading testing facility for oil and gas well plugging and abandonment.

The portable onshore test facility – known as a Barrier Qualification Test Chamber - will be built by Ellon-based engineering firm SengS, a Pryme Group company, and based at the NDC in Newburgh.

As well as directly benefiting the local economy through the construction and operation phase, it will also enable the development of a national research cluster in the field, involving local companies and organisations.

It will be used by technology developers to trial new techniques that could significantly reduce the costs and risks involved in deploying new techniques for sealing wells.

May 2022: Maersk Decom transferred its responsibility for the Banda Tiof project in Mauritania to Petrofac, effective from April 2022. With this Maersk Decom has no further commitments and the company will close down.

Maersk Drilling and Maersk Supply Service will continue to pursue decommissioning work scopes within each of the companies’ sphere of operations.

May 2022: Petrofac has grown its presence in Africa having been selected by Tullow Oil to provide well decommissioning services in Mauritania.

The contract, with potential total value of more than US$60m, involves the project management, engineering, planning and plugging and abandonment (P&A) of seven subsea wells on Tullow Oil’s Banda and Tiof fields.

April 2022: HydraWell landed one of their biggest contract wins in the North Sea to date.

The Company will be undertaking a major decommissioning project to support the permanent abandonment of 9 wells with their revolutionary Perforate, Wash & Cement (PWC®) system, designed for specialist wellbore applications.

The PWC® system provides a ground-breaking solution, replacing traditional Plug & Abandonment (P&A) and downhole tooling techniques.

HydraWell will also deliver TCP perforating services, sub-contracted from Halliburton, as well as AIT services, in the 12-month contract.

April 2022: A decommissioning project carried out by DOF Subsea, on behalf of Repsol Sinopec Resources UK, to project manage and provide Engineering, Preparation, Removal and Disposal (EPRD) services at the Buchan and Hannay fields in the Central North Sea, achieved a 99% rate for the combined recycling and repurposing of recovered materials.

April 2022: Petrofac, announced the award of a major decommissioning contract by the Australian Government, heralding the start of an era of decommissioning in the nation's offshore oil and gas sector.

The contract sees Petrofac as Outsourced Operator responsible for decommissioning and disconnection of the FPSO from its subsea equipment, and temporarily suspending the wells. Disconnection of the FPSO is expected to occur over approximately 18 months. Petrofac's scope includes the provision of its unique integrated services, working with both local and global suppliers.

March 2022: PanGeo Subsea, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kraken Robotics, Canada’s Ocean Company™, announced the award of a $5 Million Acoustic Corer™ contract in the US Gulf of Mexico. Couvillion Group issued this decommissioning project to PanGeo for commencement in Q2, 2022. This 90-day campaign is the largest Acoustic Corer™ project undertaken by the Company to date.

March 2022: Claxton, the lead brand for Acteon’s drilling and decommissioning segment, signed an agreement with Oceaneering to acquire decommissioning personnel and assets from them. Certain Oceaneering staff based in Norway will transfer to Claxton, along with decommissioning assets including well and pile abrasive cutting and recovery systems and associated tooling. Conductor drilling, pinning and cutting systems, diamond wire saws, dredges and various ancillary equipment items are also included in the deal. The equipment will initially be deployed from Acteon’s bases in Norway, Dubai (UAE) and Aberdeen (UK).

March 2022: Spirit Energy awarded Heerema Marine Contractors a contract for removal and disposal services of the operator’s North Sea decommissioning portfolio. Heerema will cooperate with DeepOcean, the subsea asset removal contractor, to deliver the safe and sustainable decommissioning of the platforms.

February 2022: Helix Energy Solutions secured the award of a field decommissioning contract by Trident Energy do Brasil Ltda. The project, located offshore Brazil in the Pampo and Enchova Clusters in the Campos Basin, is expected to commence in late 2022 for a firm period of 12 months with multiple customer options to extend.

Helix will provide a riser-based well intervention vessel either the Siem Helix 1 or Siem Helix 2, a 10k Intervention Riser System, project management and engineering services and, in conjunction with Helix’s Subsea Services Alliance partner Schlumberger, fully integrated plug and abandonment well services.

February 2022: Petrogas E&P Netherlands awarded Heerema Marine Contractors an integrated engineering, preparation, removal, and disposal (EPRD) decommissioning contract for multiple North Sea platforms.

The work involves removing the Haven, Hoorn, Helm, and Helder platforms from Block Q1 of the Dutch sector in the Southern North Sea. The execution of the offshore removals will take place over several years.  

January 2022: James Fisher, a leading provider of innovative marine solutions and specialised engineering services, announced the launch of its new business line James Fisher Decommissioning (JF Decom), which will support the decommissioning needs of customers in the renewables and oil and gas markets by delivering considerable cost and time saving solutions.

January 2022: NAM, Neptune Energy, ONE-Dyas, Petrogas E&P, TotalEnergies EP Nederland and Wintershall Noordzee signed an agreement with Oceaneering Services B.V. for the decommissioning of Mud Line Suspension (MLS) wells in the Dutch North Sea, which are wells that were once drilled for exploration purposes, but never became producing wells. This is the first time that wells from this many different operators will be removed together in one campaign.

January 2022: Heerema Marine Contractors announced that DNO has awarded a decommissioning contract for the integrated engineering, preparation, removal, and disposal (EPRD) of the Ketch and Schooner platforms.

January 2022: Leask Marine completed a major offshore decommissioning project in France, on behalf of Hydroquest, to remove their 1 MW turbine from their test site off Paimpol-Bréhat, in Brittany, France.

The offshore decommissioning project entailed project management, engineering, and marine operations, with the engagement of the North Sea Atlantic vessel.

KeyFacts Energy: Decommissioning news

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