Five oil and gas industry veterans have joined forces in a new business aimed at catching the incoming tide of North Sea decommissioning projects.
Former Xodus Group co-founder Richard Heard will lead Strategic Decommissioning Consultants, which launched this week.
The other four directors of the firm are ex-BP decommissioning assurance manager David Hoare; Adnan Hossain, a manager from Worley Parsons; Chris Gray, an adviser to Marathon Oil and UK decommissioning manager for Conoco Philips and Bob Hemmings from Shell.
Strategic Decom says it is the only known oil and gas consultancy focusing solely on decommissioning.
Mr Heard said: “The tide is changing when it comes to decommissioning. There is positivity emerging among industry professions who are incorporating their decommissioning strategy at a much earlier stage and reaping the benefits.
“The formation of Strategic Decom could not be better timed. Operators are beginning to realise that decommissioning isn’t something they can wait to think about after the last hydrocarbon is recovered.”
North Sea firms could be spending up to £1billion a year on decommissioning by 2015, according to trade body Decom North Sea. Overall, decommissioning expenditure on the UK Continental Shelf is expected to increase to £35billion between now and 2040.
Projects in the decommissioning North Sea assets are coming on stream. In February oil giant Shell appointed Able UK to dismantle the iconic Brent Alpha and Bravo platforms, which are due to stop production in late 2014 and late 2015 respectively.
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