Decommissioning - lessons learned in the North Sea can be shared in the region

摘要

ONCE AN OIL field has reached the end of its viable life, arrangements must be made to decommission the oil field facilities and any supporting infrastructure. In the North Sea, decommissioning is still a relatively new part of the industry, and with a large number of ageing assets coming to the end of their field lives, thorough consideration of the decommissioning process is becoming increasingly important. There are approximately 470 installations in the North Sea and around 10,000 km of pipelines and it is estimated that decommissioning these facilities will cost approximately US$36-45 billion between 2010 and 2040.