A leading environmental consultant says the drive behind the North Sea decommissioning industry can be found in politics rather than economics.
Earlier this year the Government announced tax reliefs for the decommissioning of North Sea platforms that will drive around £13billion extra investment into the region.
But the cost of decommissioning, which companies are required by law to carry out at the end of a field’s life, are estimated at more than £35billion.
Brian Gardner, senior consultant with Ethos Environmental, told Energy Voice he felt the impetus behind the decommissioning drive came from political will.
“The Government has given fairly reasonable tax conditions, but there’s certainly a political demand that the North Sea is cleaned up after these installatons have served their useful function,” he said.
“That’s the political drive behind it. There’s no economic gain from decommissioning these assets.”
Watch our interview with Brian Gardner and outgoing Decom North Sea chief executive Bran Nixon below.
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