Joint project develops end-of-life risk management; UK report calls for zero-waste decom
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DNV GL seeks partners to build North Sea end-of-life guidelines
Norway-based certification body DNV GL is seeking industry partners to participate in a joint industry project (JIP) to develop North Sea end-of-life guidelines for offshore installations.
The oil and gas industry understands how to manage hazards during the operational phase of an offshore field, but there is “relatively little knowledge” of how to manage risk during cessation of production and installation removal, DNV GL said. This period, which can last for many years, involves “step changes in major accident hazards risk and has considerable uncertainty,” it said.
The JIP would develop industry guidance to assist in effective, cost-efficient hazard management, and would facilitate safety case compliance during the final phases of an oil field’s life.
Hamish Holt, DNV’s JIP project manager, said: “The project will capture, challenge and develop the current experience and knowledge within the offshore oil and gas, heavy lift and deconstruction industries as well as input from relevant regulators and DNV GL.”
Expressions of interest are sought from operators, decommissioning and dismantlement turnkey contractors, heavy lift vessel operators, the UK's Health and Safety Executive, the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change and other regulators and authorities.
Report urges UK to adopt zero-waste decommissioning
The UK’s Zero Waste Scotland and Royal Society of Arts and Commerce (RSA) have called on companies involved in North Sea decommissioning to reuse parts of the structures they dismantle and bring onshore for cleaning.
The Great Recovery report says that although most of the material from decommissioned infrastructure is recycled, little is reused or remanufactured. It argues that the oil and gas industry should follow the principles of the “circular economy”, in which obsolete and redundant products become the raw materials used to create new ones.
“The potential value inherent in the reuse of platforms has been shown to be significantly higher than recycling … and would reduce the environmental impacts associated with recycling and disposal and reduce the net cost of decommissioning,” the report said.
The report identifies 24 elements from a typical production platform that could be reused, including pumps, valves, tubular steel pipework, power cables, platform piles and anchor chains. These materials can be used in at least 186 ways in 12 industrial sectors, such as agriculture, civil engineering and shipping, it said.
The re-use of parts such as steel sections will rely on the availability of certification and warranties, and testing facilities may be required before components are made available for resale, RSA said.
Zero Waste Scotland and Royal Society of Arts and Commerce are government funded groups.
Decommissioning costs contribute to first North Sea tax loss
The UK taxpayer made a loss of £39 million ($60.1 million) on oil and gas production in the North Sea in the first six months of 2015, the first loss since production began in earnest in the 1970s.
The losses reflect the fall in the value of output. Offshore tax receipts were £203 million compared with £3.3 billion in 2011, and were cancelled out by tax rebates paid out to companies for decommissioning and for operating losses.
The government is not expecting the tax situation to improve in the near future: the latest forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility is for the North Sea to generate only £600 million next year.
Next year’s tax figure is likely to be offset by increased decommissioning activity as firms bring forward campaigns as fields become uneconomical.
Acteon subsidiaries announce P&A breakthrough
Claxton and Offshore Installation Services (OIS), two subsidiaries of specialist subsea engineering firm Acteon, have widened the range of well types that can be plugged and abandoned with the rigless Suspended well abandonment tool (Swat). The firms have also increased the depth at which intermediate and environmental barriers can be placed.
“It is the first tool of its type, and is provided by Claxton in co-operation with OIS,” Neil Watson, Swat product leader at Claxton, said.
“In combining our Swat tool with the extension module, we have significantly increased the range of wells that can be abandoned. By providing our customers with more opportunities to opt for this rigless method, we enable them to reduce their well abandonment costs considerably.”
Swat is deployed from an intervention vessel. It is positioned on the wellhead and then used to perform casing perforation, the recovery of drilling mud and placement of cement barriers.
In OIS’s most recent well abandonment campaign, the depth of the plug was 2,400 feet below the mudline. Previously, Swat was limited to placing environmental barriers up to 600 ft below the mudline.