NEwS
Issue No. 1
August 2010
Introduction
The North Sea oil and gas industry is forecasting a programme of
decommissioning across the next thirty years, requiring expenditures
estimated at £25 to £30 billion. A few isolated projects have been
completed to date, providing modest but valuable learning and
experience - but the large majority of this huge programme lies before us.
In advance of this extensive period of activity across multiple, complex
projects, the industry (operating companies, major contractors, service
specialists, technology developers, legal and financial experts, consultants etc.)
must work together to learn from, and share, the many experiences that will be
earned from the next clutch of decommissioning projects.
Contents
page 2
Chairman’s foreword
Membership of Decom North Sea
Decomnorthsea.com
Future newsletters
page 3
The industry needs to develop and adopt innovative contracting models, able
to stimulate progressive improvements and efficiency gains. A cohesive
approach is needed to ensure effective management and mitigation of various
risks – safety; environment; cost; reputation; technical etc. New compensation
strategies are also required to ensure an equitable approach to the
management of risk and reward.
Forthcoming DNS events and
exhibitions DNS is participating in
The concept of packaging several individual decommissioning projects into
larger programmes appears to offer significant benefits to all parties, but needs
further research and promotion.
Supply Chain Matrix
Packaging
Research
And of course it is vitally important that the UK industry and supply chain is
prepared to secure maximum benefit from the North Sea programme, and
through doing so becomes globally recognised as a source of
decommissioning expertise and experience, in the same way as it is already
recognised for its strengths with new developments, production optimisation,
subsea technologies, asset integrity and similar.
Decom North Sea, the oil & gas industry decommissioning forum, is leading
and facilitating the industry discussion on these important topics and is keen to
hear from companies and organisations interested in pursuing these
concepts.
Courtesy of Oil States MCS
www.decomnorthsea.com
page 4
pages 5-8
Members News:
SPEX, Marine Subsea,
CodaOctopus, BP, PSN
and Spartan Solutions
page 2
Decom North Sea News
Chairman’s foreword
Welcome to the first Decom North Sea newsletter. It comes on the back of an
extremely busy few months for the industry forum with our membership drive
resulting in many new members, well on our way to our target of 70 for the whole
of this year. In fact, the great rate at which companies and partner organisations
have been joining DNS is a clear signal that the time for the formation of the body
is absolutely right and that there is awareness of the opportunities on offer
through the raft of decommissioning work rapidly coming upon us.
we do hope we will have the chance to meet many of our new and potential members
from throughout the UK, and even Europe by the end of the year - at our Annual
General Meeting, the programme of events running all over the country and at our first
major conference in October being staged in partnership with Oil & Gas UK.
Finally, a word of thanks to the UK Government’s Department of Energy and Climate
Change, and from Scotland’s two economic development agencies (Scottish
Enterprise and Highlands & Islands Enterprise), who have given DNS the financial
support needed to get established until we become self-sustainable through private
sector membership subscriptions and other sources of revenue.
Murdo MacIver
Peterson SBS Ltd
Membership of Decom North Sea
Full membership of Decom North Sea is open to any commercial organisation involved with decommissioning.
Associate membership is open to non-commercial organisations and individuals who wish to be kept informed of Decom North
Sea activity and attend networking events and conferences.
Benefits of joining Decom North Sea include, amongst others, :
• Access to operators and major contractors to understand their future decommissioning plans and supply chain needs
• Opportunity to present and promote your company at Decom North Sea events
• Access to market intelligence reports and business opportunities
• Opportunity to participate in specialist working groups e.g. (a) to look at the various contracting strategies for decommissioning;
(b) packaging of decommissioning projects
• Discounted rate for Decom North Sea events
More information on member benefits and how to apply to join Decom North Sea can be found at www.decomnorthsea.com
Decomnorthsea.com
The recently revamped Decom North Sea website will be launched officially at
the AGM in September. It is hoped that this site will be considered as a portal
to everything you need to know about decommissioning in the North Sea.
Featured on the website will be the Decommissioning Supply Chain Matrix
allowing visitors to the site to search for companies with decommissioning
capability by a short series of options: firstly to select which phase of
decommissioning then to choose the kind of facility or equipment that is to be
decommissioned, and then to the specific services required. Decom North Sea
members featured on this matrix will be able to demonstrate their key
capabilities and experience in decommissioning.
Future
newsletters
we welcome contributions from our
members for future newsletters so please
send your news and photos to
SHillyear@decomnorthsea.com
we hope by sharing your experiences and
successes in the decommissioning sector
with fellow members and the wider
decommissioning industry, further useful
connections will be made.
Decom North Sea News
page 3
Forthcoming DNS events and exhibitions
Offshore Northern Seas (ONS),Stavanger, 24th – 27th August
Decom North Sea is attending ONS to promote Decom North Sea and attract new members as well
as meeting with some of the key decommissioning players from Norway to learn of their
decommissioning plans and how the UK supply chain can engage.
Come and see us in Hall J, stand 1018-5
Decom North Sea Annual General Meeting, Marcliffe Hotel, Aberdeen, 14th September
On Tuesday 14th September, the Decom North Sea website and supply chain matrix will be launched. This will be followed by the Decom
North Sea AGM where members of DNS will have the opportunity to nominate new board members. To find out more about the AGM
and how to nominate a board member visit www.decomnorthsea.com
Offshore Decommissioning Conference 2010, Dunblane Hydro, 5th – 7th October
Decom North Sea in partnership with Oil and Gas UK are holding a two day Offshore Decommissioning Conference at the Dunblane
Hydro, Tues 5th – Thurs 7th Oct. The conference theme is ‘Integrating and expanding regional capabilities for decommissioning in the
North Sea’
A drinks reception on the evening of 5 October will mark the official opening of the conference and provide a fantastic opportunity for
delegates to meet in a relaxed and informal atmosphere before the more formal aspects of the conference commence the
following morning.
The Conference will focus on the role and needs of the oil and gas industry’s offshore decommissioning supply chain in five main
sessions following an opening keynote address.
• Decommissioning in the North Sea - lessons learned and possibilities for the future; with new material on cost estimating and
market opportunities
• Contracting strategies; an interactive cross-industry engagement to explore different contracting models
• The decommissioning supply chain within the UK; building from new mapping work, showcasing and discussing the capabilities of
four key sectors
• The forward agenda for decommissioning; update presentations on wider decommissioning activities from other sectors
• Conference reflections
In addition a conference dinner will be held for all the delegates and speakers on the evening of 6 October - this is included in the
conference fee.
The conference fee is £437.50, however, Decom North Sea members are eligible for a 20% discount.
For more information and how to register for this event go to www.oilandgas.co.uk/events
Decom North Sea and NOF Energy networking event, Durham, 11th November
Decom North Sea and NOF Energy are holding a decommissioning themed networking lunch. This will
include an update on Decom North Sea as well as a presentation from Jim Niven, Stakeholder Manager, Shell
on Shell’s decommissioning plans.
For more information and to register for this event,
contact shillyear@decomnorthsea.com
Oil and Gas Supply Chain Management, 29th & 30th November 2010, London, UK
SMi’s forthcoming Oil and Gas Supply Chain Management conference will address challenges, innovation, solutions and lessons
learned, as influential players from the oil and gas landscape come together to understand how to generate value, create efficiency,
and improve productivity.
For more information and to book your place visit www.smi-online.co.uk/supplychain17.asp
Decom North Sea members are eligible for a 25% discount off the delegate rate, please contact Andrew Gibbons on + 44 (0) 20 7827
6156 to receive the discount.
Please visit www.decomnorthsea.com for details of future events.
page 4
Decom North Sea News
Supply Chain Matrix
The main purpose of Decom North Sea is to ensure the supply chain is
ready to capture business opportunities - in other words, to ensure
the readiness, capability and capacity of the UK supply chain.
To address the pending supply gap, Decom North Sea has
embarked on the ambitious quest of mapping the existing
supply chain to better facilitate supply and demand. we have
undertaken a major piece of work to map out the supply chain in
order to identify where the capability resides, to enable
operators and major contractors to be aware of supply chain
capabilities and to access services quickly.
we are talking about massive demand – a £25bn-£30bn
programme that will require all available resources, such as
engineering contractors and operators, onshore facilities,
specialist services such as cutting, safety and
environmental specialists, vessels and so on. There is a
whole raft of contractors that supply support services
for the major operators. we will primarily focus on this.
There may be a limited use for platforms as
electricity substations for the North Sea grid, which
would enable the UK’s offshore wind and marine power to
be exported, and be balanced with hydro and other forms of power
from Norway, Denmark France and Belgium.
Complete platform resale is possible but thought to be generally unlikely, given that in the North
Sea, each platform was designed to meet specific requirements of the reservoir and water depth etc. As
a result, no two platforms in the NorthSea are the same, so to relocate and reuse such unique designs elsewhere would be a long shot –
but possible.
However a bigger opportunity lies in the possibility of refurbishing major platform components and equipment for secondary re-use on
new developments. There is evidence of a growing focus on possible“re-use”as well as recycling.
Packaging
Decom North Sea is undertaking research
into the concept of packaging a number of
decommissioning projects together, in
order to provide a stronger basis for the
supply chain to prepare and possibly invest
in new equipment, people, facilities, joint
ventures and similar. It is hoped to establish
a work group from DNS Members to
progress this concept.
Research
DNS is also working on a project with The Robert Gordon University
and Accenture to undertake research and analysis of different
decommissioning contracting strategies. Eight Masters students at
RGU, who are being mentored by consultants from Accenture, are
devoting the summer months to this project. The team will research
various alternatives with members of Decom North Sea before
conducting an independent analysis to consider the pros and cons of
each contracting option. This research will be presented for industry
discussion and debate at our conference in October.
Decom North Sea News
page 5
Members News
SPEX Targets Decommissioning Work
The 8400 tonne Sarah arrived into Aberdeen Harbour on the
evening of wednesday 29 July and set sail on Friday 30 July to
begin the contract. Marine Subsea gave a tour of the 120 metre
vessel to Brian Nixon, Chief Executive of Decom North Sea.
Mr Nixon welcomed the significant contract for the region saying:
“We are working closely with operators and the supply chain to
encourage the packaging of projects, so it is great to see the
benefits Marine Subsea UK is delivering in its multi-client approach to
well abandonment. Decommissioning North Sea oil and gas
facilities in the UK Continental Shelf is projected to cost between
£24 - £30 billion between 2010 and 2040 and we are keen to ensure
investment is returned to the economy in this way.”
SPEX, the largest independent provider of speciality explosive
services in the UK, recently received a £1m investment from local
businessman and entrepreneur, Jamie Oag.
SPEX, formed in May 2009, provides a range of services and
engineering consultancy in the field of explosive sciences and
technology in both the public and private sector.
The company’s seven business segments include field services,
consultancy, training and competence, explosive disposal,
manufacturing of specialist explosive products, sales and
services and a special projects division for both the public and
private sectors. The main oil related activities are focused on the
remedial sector such as pipe recovery, wellhead removal, pile
severance, structural removal and anchor, wire and chain
severance.
Gavin Drummond, Managing Director for SPEX, said: “Many
operators realise that explosives can offer a safe, cost-effective and
guaranteed solution compared to other methods. SPEX offer a first
class service to our clients and our vision is to continually develop
technologies and methods which will allow us to become a market
leader in explosive decommissioning.’’
SPEX has a team of 20 staff and operates from three bases in and
around Aberdeen which include management offices at Carden
Place, workshops and a bonded warehouse facility at Dyce and a
training and deep water evaluation site at Tillyfourie.
Sarah arrives into Aberdeen to begin Major
Decommissioning Contract
Marine Subsea’s flagship vessel Sarah has travelled from west
Africa to Aberdeen to begin a series of decommissioning
contracts in the North Sea.
The £2 million multi-client well abandonment programme will
see the specialist light well intervention vessel plug and
abandon a total of five subsea wells.
The contracts are with a number of oil and gas operators
including DNO, Bayerngas UK and Tullow.
Marine Subsea UK is leading the project to perforate, cement and
carry out abrasive severing and recovery of the wells.The company
will also be responsible for the recovery and disposal of residual
oil-based muds.
The Sarah is an Ulstein SX121 DP3 (dynamic positioning) vessel
that is capable of operating in depths of 3,000 metres. The main
features include a tower, main crane, helideck and two heavy duty
workclass ROVs. She travelled from west Africa where she is on a
flexible ten year contract with oil operator Sonangol via Spain,
where she had carried a short subsea construction project for
Repsol.
Bruce Cowie, Project Manager for Marine Subsea’s project said that
a multi-client approach worked well in driving down the costs of
decommissioning. He added: “Sarah offers a top quality safe and
efficient service for well abandonment programmes and we are
pleased that our whole fleet of vessels is currently in demand at home
and overseas. We are well positioned to support the increase in
decommissioning activity forecast for the North Sea and in other oil
andgasfieldsglobally.Oursafetytrackrecordwasrecognisedrecently
with a British Council International Safety Award.”
Marine Subsea UK is based at Regent Centre at Aberdeen Harbour
and employs 30 people.
It is part of the Marine Subsea group which is headquartered in
Oslo, with operations in Aberdeen, Angola, Nigeria and Cyprus.
Established in 2006, the company operates in three main industry
areas – subsea construction and well intervention, offshore
support and charter and logistics.
page 6
Decom North Sea News
3D Real-Time Technology from CodaOctopus Set
for Decommissioning Tasks
The unique 3D sonar technology of the Coda Echoscope® is set
for new decommissioning projects in the North Sea and the Gulf
of Mexico. The benefits of the Echoscope’s 3D capabilities, which
bring real-time visualisation to the underwater working
environment, were substantiated in a successful role in a recent
‘plug and abandonment’ task in the Gulf of Mexico, underlining
its suitability for entry into the decommissioning arena.
Commercial achievements with Echoscope technology have
been documented in a range of diverse applications including
ROV operations where, as an intuitive aid to the ROV pilot,
real-time 3D visualisation augmented his spatial awareness when
navigating through complex structures. Other projects
include
offshore
windfarm
installation and underwater
breakwater construction; in all
cases significant improvements in
operational
efficiency
and
enhanced underwater safety are
reported.
“Given the unrivalled operational
and safety benefits that 3D
real-time isualisation has brought
to many different underwater
applications in recent years, we are
delighted to provide a new
perspective to the processes of
decommissioning,” said Stephen
Auld, Managing Director at
CodaOctopus Products. “We are
confident
that
Echoscope
technology will transfer easily into
this environment to enhance
subsea safety and increase
productivity.”
courtesy of BP
Echoscope technology generates a real-time three-dimensional
image from one acoustic transmission, or ping, and from a single
ping over 16,000 range and bearing points are generated. The
total viewing angle measures 50˚ x 50˚ and within this acoustic
volume, an instantaneous 3D image is generated. The fact that
these 3D images can be generated instantaneously and without
the need of positioning, heading or motion reference sensors is
recognised as a distinct advantage in numerous diverse
underwater applications.
Decommissioning Project Updates from BP
Miller
BP has submitted a decommissioning programme to DECC on
behalf of the field partners (BP, ConocoPhillips and Shell). The
public consultation phase ended on 25th June and the
programme will now continue through the next stage of the
regulatory approval process. If the Miller proposals are
accepted by the UK Government, there will be a consultation in
Europe through the OSPAR process later this year. BP has also
issued a request for information (RFI) to the marketplace as the first
step in formally engaging with the supply chain on Miller
decommissioning.
Further information is available on www.bp.com/miller
Don
The decommissioning programme for BP's Don field (partners
ConocoPhillips) is currently proceeding through the regulatory
approval process. In parallel, we are making preparations for the
actual well plugging and abandonment activity and
removal of seabed infrastructure which will be carried out after the
programme is approved.
Further information is available on www.bp.com/don
North West Hutton
Topsides and jacket removal activity on North west Hutton (BP,
Cieco, Shell and ExxonMobil) was completed in 2009 and we have
now achieved a 98% figure for the reuse or recycling of
recovered material.
Further information is available on
www.bp.com/northwesthutton
Decom North Sea News
PSN awarded SHELL contract for BRENT FIELD
PSN is pleased to confirm that it has been awarded a major
contract by Shell U.K. Limited (Shell), acting on behalf of
itself and Esso Exploration and Production UK Limited
(Esso), for work on the Brent oil and gas field in the UK
North Sea.
The contract award is for the decommissioning services on the
Brent Delta platform topsides. PSN will provide services
including integrity management; module, process and utility
separation; safe shutdown; hydrocarbon cleaning;
disconnections and preparation for removal of the topsides.
page 7
Offshore work is expected to begin around late 2011 as part of
the initial stages of Brent Delta decommissioning.
Peter Brown, UK managing director of PSN said: “The award
of this contract reflects the strength of our ability to provide Shell
with proven decommissioning expertise. It also underlines our
ability to support operators across the full spectrum of brownfield
services.
“Building on the existing skills and offshore expertise in the North
Sea region, we are confident the contract will provide a significant
number of new job opportunities in the decommissioning
services sector. It will also position Aberdeen as a global centre of
excellence for offshore decommissioning.”
Spartan Solutions joins Decom North Sea
to focus on increasing equipment
decommissioning profitability through
barcode and RFID technology
Jim Green, Managing Director of Spartan, says: “Phalanx
is designed to improve the efficiency and reduce the costs of
managing equipment. Decommissioning is the final phase of
the equipment lifecycle and is a natural fit for our products and
services.”
Spartan Solutions
software platform
decommissioning
efficiency across
transportation.
Phalanx’s capability has already been proven in oil and gas
logistics, having been deployed by oilfield service and
rental providers Swire Oilfield Services, Aker Solutions and
Aggreko.
is unveiling its innovative Phalanx
to the growing global oil and gas
market – targeted at improving
equipment recovery, audit and
Phalanx seamlessly integrates with existing back office
systems to ensure that all decommissioned equipment is
fully tracked and audited at every stage of its journey.
Phalanx delivers easy to use operational processes using
mobile technology, barcodes and RFID to reduce operating
costs while improving contract profitability.
Spartan’s system allows for tighter control of processes and
compliance by removing the risk of human error and
unnecessary paper trails.
Brian Nixon, Decom North Sea Chief Executive, says:
“The difference between profit and loss in the
decommissioning cycle relies heavily on the efficiency of
equipment management processes. Spartan has a strong
track record with major companies in the oil and gas market
and I am delighted that they are bringing their strengths to
bear in this emerging growth sector.”
Spartan Solutions is exhibiting on Stand 1018-16 (Hall J) at
ONS 2010, Stavanger, Norway from August 24 to 27. For
more information visit www.spartan-solutions.com and
www.ons.no
page 8
Decom North Sea News
Full membership of Decom North Sea is open to any commercial organisation involved with decommissioning. Associate
membership is open to non-commercial organisations and individuals who wish to be kept informed of Decom North Sea
activity and attend networking events and conferences. For further information, visit www.decomnorthsea.com
Member Listing
Members of Decom North Sea – as at 26th July 2010
60 North Recycling Ltd
Aberdeenshire Council
AF Decom Offshore AS
Aker Offshore Partner Ltd
AMEC
APEX Speciality Solutions Ltd
Asset Development & Improvement Ltd (ADIL)
Avanteq Ltd
Babcock Marine Rosyth
BJ Process & Pipeline Services
BOND - Bluegrass Offshore & Nuclear Decommissioning Services Ltd
BP
Caithness Chamber of Commerce
Cape Industrial Services Ltd
Carbon Energy Club
CodaOctopus Products Ltd
CSL
Cutting Underwater Technologies Ltd
Danish Marine and Offshore Group
E.M.w Consultancy Ltd
EAP Associates Ltd
East of England Energy Group (EEEGR)
ES Europe
Ethan Consultancy Ltd
Halliburton
Hess Ltd
IRO
Keltbray Group Holdings Ltd
Ledingham Chalmers
Lloyd’s Register EMEA
Maclay Murray & Spens
Marathon Oil UK Ltd
Marine Subsea (UK) Ltd
Mwaves Ltd
NOF Energy
Norse Cutting & Abandonment Ltd
NSIG
Oil States MCS Ltd
Pegasus International (UK) Ltd
Peterson SBS
Petrofac
Port Services Group
Product Development International
Production Services Network (PSN)
Proserv Offshore
Rotech Subsea
Scottish Renewables
Seal-Tite UK LLC
Shepherd & wedderburn
SMD Robotics Ltd
Spartan Solutions Ltd
SPEX Services Ltd
Sureclean Ltd
Thinktank Maths Ltd
URS Corporation
wood Group
Reciprocal Agreements
The name of Decom North Sea was selected with care, as it is intended to approach the decommissioning programme from a pan-North Sea
perspective. we believe that the scale and complexities of offshore decommissioning between 2012 and 2025 will require resource and
capacity from all North Sea producing countries. Decom North Sea is therefore keen to foster collaborative links with European colleagues
we have already signed reciprocal agreements with regional energy bodies across Europe to help us reach as many potential members as
possible in the UK and further afield. These include NOF Energy, East of England Energy Group, North Scotland Industries Group, IRO
(the Association of Dutch Suppliers to the Oil & Gas Industry), Offshore Denmark and the Carbon Energy Club in Belgium. A further
agreement has been reached with Caithness Chamber of Commerce to research the possible transfer of experience and technologies from
the nuclear decommissioning sector.
Contact
Decom North Sea, Riverside House, Riverside Drive, Aberdeen AB11 7LH
Tel: +44 1224 224129 Fax +44 1224 224301 email: shillyear@decomnorthsea.com
www.decomnorthsea.com