The UK oil and gas industry is starting to get “very good” at decommissioning, the sector’s top regulator said yesterday.
Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) chief executive Andy Samuel said the UK was already a top player when it came to the late-life management of offshore infrastructure.
The industry is now showing its potential to become a world leader in oilfield dismantling and scrapping, he added.
In 2017, the OGA revealed dismantling the UK North Sea would cost £59.7 billion and it set a goal of reducing the figure by at least 35%.
A year later, the regulator said the sector had potentially slashed the bill by 7%, or £4bn.
OGA’s next decommissioning cost estimate report will be published on July 2.
The study will reveal that “extremely good” progress is being made, Mr Samuel said at the Energy Exports Conference yesterday.
He also told the audience he was “more confident than ever before” in the oil and gas industry’s “vision” for the next 15 years.
Vision 2035 is the ambition to fulfil as much UK oil and gas demand as possible through domestic production and help boost supply chain exports, while supporting the low carbon push.
A taskforce of big hitters has been assembled to devise a roadmap showing what needs to be done and by when to deliver the vision.
Oil and Gas UK chief executive Deirdre Michie said the roadmap would be published at the Offshore Europe oil and gas conference and exhibition in Aberdeen in September.
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