The boss at Gulf Marine Services (GMS) said yesterday that tendering activity for decommissioning projects in the North Sea had picked up “slightly” in recent months.
An Aberdeen-based oil and gas industry expert has called on the UK Government to take an “ethical lead” on offshore decommissioning.
A Norfolk-based engineering firm has designed and installed a solar navigation aid system on Shell’s Brent Delta platform in the North Sea.
Claxton has completed its work on two southern North Sea well abandonment projects.
Oil and gas industry efforts to promote collaboration in the wake of a major slump in fortunes have taken a big leap forward, with the launch of a new “toolkit” to encourage co-operation across the sector.
An industry chief has said there is no rush for companies to jump headlong into North Sea decommissioning.
Allseas’ giant decommissioning vessel the Pioneering Spirit yesterday completed its maiden heavy lift project.
The industry body for North Sea decommissioning will today launch a new online toolkit with “limitless potential” for improving collaboration in the sector.
D3 Consulting has started work on a six-figure contract with a major operator in the southern North Sea, the Devon-based decommissioning specialist said today.
The twin-hulled, heavy-lift vessel that will remove a number of topside modules from the North Sea has passed its first test. The Pioneering Spirit, owned by Allseas, has installed a 5,500 tonne test platform topside during southern North Sea trials.
The huge crane ship booked to lift the Brent Delta topside away in one piece left Rotterdam at the weekend ahead of offshore trials. Allsea’s twin-hulled Pioneering Spirit had been moored in Rotterdam since January 2015 for installation, commissioning and testing of the topsides lift system. If the southern North Sea trials go to plan, the vessel’s first job will be to remove the 13,500 tonne Yme mobile offshore production unit off Norway for Repsol.
Green lobbyists and politicians yesterday accused Shell of shirking its environmental responsibilities with its plans to leave the gigantic legs of its Brent field platforms in the North Sea. Mark Ruskell, Scottish Greens MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, said the Brent field had generated millions for Shell and its shareholders and should be left in the same condition in which it was found. On Monday, Shell said it would recommend leaving the 300,000 tonne legs from three of the field’s four platforms in place, along with storage cells, the lower section of the Alpha platform’s jacket, drill cuttings and heavier pipelines entrenched in the seabed.
Shell (LON: RDSB) plans to leave platform legs, storage cells and entrenched pipelines in the North Sea at the end of its multi-billion pound Brent decommissioning campaign, the oil major said yesterday. Duncan Manning, Shell’s business opportunity manager on Brent Decommissioning, said the removal of certain items of subsea infrastructure was potentially dangerous for workers and had little merit for the environment. On the back of years of research and consultation, the firm is preparing to submit its recommendations to the Department of Energy Change (DECC) by the end of the year.
The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has outlined its top three priorities in its newly published decommissioning strategy, including 35% decrease in costs.
The Institute of Mechanical Engineers is hosting an insight into the Brent decommissioning project with senior managers from the oil giant explaining the engineering challenge next month.
Engineering firm Costain will use the discipline of operating within the tight margins of civil engineering and utilities sectors as it looks to make a mark in the oil and gas decommissioning sector.
The UK oil and gas industry is set to become a pioneer in decommissioning activity globally and has the opportunity to become leaders in this field according to Wood Mackenzie.
A senior executive from Shell's multi billion dollar Brent field decommissioning team said the delay in deploying the enormous would not add to the cost of the project, despite putting put back a year.
The chief executive of Decom North Sea said the Decom 2016 conference had seen the sector turn a corner.
Three oil and gas industry veterans have pooled their years of experience in well management to launch a new company focused on plugging and abandonment in the North Sea.
The man leading the Oil and Gas Authority's decommissioning strategy told industry leaders that if Leicester City can win the English Premiership, then the oil and gas sector can collaborate to hit the back of the net with decom.
The UK North Sea has the chance to become a world leader in decommissioning practice, according to a leading industry figure.
Specialist decommissioning consultancy Strategic Decom has teamed with and business intelligence firm Animus to create a new technology platform - DecomIntelligence - to facilitate better collaboration in the decommissioning industry.
With more than 250 subsea wells and over 500 platform wells to be decommissioned in the UKCS by 2022, all must be permanently abandoned by setting the required barriers (plugs), severing all casings and conductor 10ft below mudline.
Amec Foster Wheeler has won two contracts with the UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to overcome its technical challenges.