THE decommissioning sector is well-positioned to realise “£15 billion of opportunities over the next decade” according to a new report.
The 2019 Decommissioning Insight report, launched by OGUK today, revealed that while UK Continental Shelf activity is expected to increase expenditure will remain consistent at around £1.5bn per year.
The 10th annual report found decommissioning now represents just under 10% of the oil and gas industry’s overall expenditure.
It also said that within the next 10 years, £67bn will be spent decommissioning oil and gas assets in the global market.
To date, 9% of the platforms installed on the UK Continental Shelf have been decommissioned.
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Operators across the sector provide data to the OGUK Decommissioning Insight, which plays a key role in contributing market intelligence on activity and cost trends.
OGUK’s decommissioning manager Joe Leask said the figures show a “healthy sector”.
He said: “Our report underlines the significant intellectual capital anchored here in the UK. Ensuring this is shared is key to maintaining the competitiveness of the sector, enabling this homegrown industry to capture the lion’s share of an emerging global market some four times greater.
“We’re already seeing exciting new companies emerging as specialists in decommissioning, either offering full-scope solutions or focusing on specialising in areas including offshore well decommissioning and onshore dismantling and disposal. These innovative business models offer industry real choices whether operators carry out decommissioning themselves or pass the scope to those companies offering increasingly competitive solutions.”
Leask called for firms to look into the re-use of old facilities for carbon capture and storage and find ways to generate value from old assets. “Decommissioning is not the end of our industry; it offers a new beginning,” he said.
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