Wireline Magazine Autumn 2020 Issue 49

UK decommissioning: On the campaign trail

Despite the disruptions of 2020, decommissioning removals on the UKCS have progressed largely uninterrupted. Wireline explores the secrets of successful removal campaigns

C learly, 2020 will prove to be a year of significant disruption for the UKCS E&P sector. Record-low levels of exploration drilling and delayed development, coupled with the deferral of maintenance work such as the Forties Pipeline System, have all amounted to a major slowdown across the basin. Decommissioning has not been immune to these effects either. Much well decommissioning activity has been deferred, even as more operators have submitted plans for cessation of production (COP) of their assets in light of the strong economic headwinds. There is, however, a bright spot: removals activity in 2020 has continued at pace with progress made across several of the UKCS’ largest decommissioning projects. Based on forecasts from OGUK’s Decommissioning Insight Report 2019, around 12 topsides and 150 wells are due to be decommissioned each year up to 2028, with all activity totalling £15.2 billion over the decade. In terms of mass, topsides removal alone will amount to nearly 880,000 tonnes over the period, although much of this is forecast towards the end of this horizon. In 2020, much activity has focused around a fewmajor UKCS operations, including CNR International’s Ninian Northern platform, Shell U.K.’s Brent field and a multi- asset campaign by Chrysaor, as well as others by the likes of Perenco, Premier Oil and EnQuest. That operators, offshore contractors and onshore disposal yards have been able to work together to maintain progress on these projects despite the challenges of COVID-19 and cost constraints is encouraging. Wireline spoke with several of these OGUK members to find out more.

Delta, Bravo, Alpha Now more than a decade into the decommissioning of the Brent field in the northern North Sea, Shell U.K. is proof of how far the sector has come. As Brent decommissioningprojectdirectorWilliamLindsaynoted: “One of the great things about having four platforms is that we can improve every time we do it. Brent Delta topside removal was the first one in 2017, Bravo in 2019 and Alpha in 2020. Every time we decommission one of these platforms, we do it better and better… offshore exposure is less and the costs are less as well.” Ofthefourfieldplatforms,threearenowdown-manned and largely removed, while Brent Charlie continues to produce in parallel with well decommissioning. The standout activity of 2020, however, has been the single- lift removals of both the 17,000-tonne Brent Alpha topsides before transfer to Able UK’s dismantling yard in Hartlepool, and its 10,000-tonne upper jacket delivered to Norway for dismantling. Given the disruption of coronavirus, the fact that activity progressed at all is an achievement. But William is keen to impress that it was Shell U.K.’s contractors and supply chain partners that made this happen: “This was driven by the supply chain, the supply chain wanted to do work this year – they weren’t forced to contractually.” He links the successes in both cost reduction and execution to the flexible approach to contracting across the project. Shell U.K.’s contractor partners are given large windows of time in which to execute their work scopes, allowing them to plan multiple campaigns of work (often for multiple clients) with greater efficiencies. In this case, that flexibility enabled contractor Allseas to take on four platform removals across the North Sea

“We have demonstrated on Brent that if you have long-term contracts... you can improve over time significantly. We’re not talking a few percentage points, we’re talking tens of per cent overall, and everyone wins.”

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