Able UK has a message for other British ports considering a big financial outlay on decommissioning facilities: think long and hard before you press the button.
By Tom Baxter, Senior Lecturer, Chemical Engineering, Aberdeen University
Despite Professor Alex Kemp’s justification for decommissioning tax breaks, any break is a very poor deal for the UK taxpayer. Current levels are set at 75% or 50 % for respective petroleum revenue tax (PRT) paying and non-PRT fields. With estimates of the total decommissioning cost at ca £40billion, the taxpayers’ portion is, by any fiscal measure, a huge sum of money. It equates to approximately £1,000 per UK taxpayer. Furthermore, should decommissioning costs increase, as many suspect they will, the risk to the taxpayer is obvious.
UK taxpayers could be liable for a significant share of the North Sea’s multi-billion pound decommissioning costs over the next 40 years, according to a new study.
Former Scottish secretary Alistair Carmichael said today that the decommissioning market should become a key driver of employment in Orkney and Shetland.
An Aberdeen offshore engineering services firm believes there is money to be made in the gap between well plugging and abandonment (P&A) and platform removal.
Despite having some of the most ambitious plans of any UK port, bosses at Aberdeen harbour are not getting carried away as far as decommissioning is concerned.
With decommissioning edging its way to the forefront of North Sea industry minds, yards are already vying for a slice of a pie thought to be worth £50billion over 30 years.