Media Centre
Monday 26 July 2010
Oil & Gas UK and Decom North Sea Team Up at UK Decommissioning Event
Up to two hundred delegates will be able to improve their awareness of the opportunities and challenges presented by the decommissioning of oil and gas infrastructure and to ensure their place in this expanding sector at a conference in Dunblane on 5-7 October 2010. The event, run by Oil & Gas UK and Decom North Sea, focuses on ‘Integrating and expanding regional capabilities for decommissioning in the North Sea’, and is sponsored by Aker Solutions and Wood Group Engineering (North Sea) Ltd.
The conference will be chaired jointly by Paul Dymond, Oil & Gas UK’s operations director, and Brian Nixon, Decom North Sea’s chief executive, and a line-up of authoritative speakers has already been confirmed. Mr Dymond said: “Over the coming decades, the UK oil and gas industry will begin large-scale decommissioning of some of the 470 installations which have been producing oil and gas over the past 30 to 40 years. Each decommissioning project is a complex process with considerable technical, economic, environmental, health and safety issues which the industry has to address and manage properly.
“Indeed, it is apparent that the timescales and complexity of decommissioning are substantially greater than previously anticipated. Together, projects totalling £10 billion are expected over the next ten years, with total decommissioning costs rising to £26 billion by 2040. In pursuit of efficient decommissioning, the emergence and development of companies with the capability to deliver the full range of technologies and services is in everyone’s interest. This will require the sharing of insights into the market potential within the industry and our forthcoming conference provides the perfect opportunity to achieve this.”
Mr Nixon said: “The forthcoming offshore decommissioning programme will involve substantial expenditure and it is really important that the industry is prepared for the accompanying business opportunities. Operators need to be aware of the technologies, services and facilities available in the UK and the supply chain needs to be aware of when projects will develop and how they will be managed. There is a genuine need for all parties to be open and to share information and ideas.
This conference is intended to be light on straightforward presentations, with more emphasis on discussion and constructive debate, with feedback from and to industry backed initiatives that will help ensure UK content and participation.”
The first session will highlight the lessons learned from past decommissioning with insights from operators, contractors and their suppliers including Aker Solutions, BP, ConocoPhillips, The Acteon Group and Wood Group Engineering (North Sea) Ltd.
The interactive second session will begin with the findings of work conducted by MBA students from the Robert Gordon University and Accenture on the range of contracting strategies utilised in the oil and gas industry in relation to decommissioning activities. Delegates will then engage in a facilitated discussion to explore the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, before feeding back their findings to a panel of industry experts.
The second day of the conference will begin with Brian Nixon’s presentation of Decom North Sea’s decommissioning supply chain mapping exercise, with delegates participating in follow-up discussions on the specific areas of platforms, wells, subsea and onshore disposal. Finally, attendees will hear from the Society for Underwater Technology (SUT) on salvage operations, about the progress made by Industry Technology Facilitator (ITF) on collaborative technology projects, receive an introduction to the international decommissioning agenda from the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (OGP) and hear some of the nuclear industry’ decommissioning experiences and strategies.
The conference will provide an enlightening and interactive opportunity to develop knowledge and learn from industry peers. Please find out more at http://www.oilandgasuk.co.uk/decomconf2010/
Ends
For further information, please contact Sally Fraser on 020 7802 2404.
Notes to Editors
- Oil & Gas UK is the leading representative organisation for the UK offshore oil and gas industry. Its members, which number over 100, are companies licensed by the Government to explore for and produce oil and gas in UK waters and those who form any part of the industry's supply chain.
- Decom North Sea is a new UK-based industry forum set up in 2009 to maximise the business opportunities presented by North Sea decommissioning. The main objective of the new forum is to deliver practical industry support to improve knowledge transfer and stimulate collaborative activities across the North Sea supply chain. This will be achieved by the delivery of effective member events, activities and information services.
- There are limited places available for media to attend the conference. Please email sfraser@oilandgasuk.co.uk if you would like to reserve a place.
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