A collaborative model for trialing new technologies has been deemed a success by a trio of major operators, as the sector races to drive down the costs of well decommissioning.
Around 1,400 UKCS wells will have to be abandoned over the next 10 years alone at a cost of £7-8billion of which the UK taxpayer will fund around half, according to Malcolm Banks, wells solution centre manager at the Oil and Gas Technology Centre (OGTC).
Buoyancy systems, laser cutting tools and thermite plugs all feature in a combined effort by industry and academia to turn the north-east into the world’s leading provider of decommissioning technology.
