Low oil price could hasten decommissioning

摘要

Wood Mackenzie says it expects the low oil price to enhance the rate at which facilities on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) are decommissioned. The company said high oil prices had enabled operators to extend field life and delay decommissioning "time and time again" on the UKCS, but the current low oil price has brought into stark relief that this cannot continue indefinitely. The report, prepared for Offshore Europe 2015, forecasts that, while a small number of decommissioning projects have been completed to date, decommissioning activity and spend will ramp up over the next five years as mature fields are no longer economically viable in a low oil price environment - 140 fields could cease over the next five years. Fiona Legate, UK upstream research analyst for Wood Mackenzie, said, "In 2015, operators have reacted to the low oil price environment by deferring spend and delaying sanction of new developments. We have analysed the impact of the low oil price on decommissioning activity looking at the timing of cessation, retained decommissioning liabilities from previous deals and batch decommissioning."