Decommissioning Insight 2017

DECOMMISSIONING INSIGHT 2017

Norwegian Continental Shelf • Around 800 of the 3,800 wells that will eventually require decommissioning have already been plugged and abandoned on the Norwegian Continental Shelf 10 . • Of the remaining 3,000 wells, 10 per cent (300 wells) are forecast to be decommissioned by 2025. • Eighty-five per cent (254) of these are platform wells. • Activity is forecast at around 27 wells per year to 2024, peaking at 87 wells in 2025 indicating the start of several large projects that fall partially outside the survey timeframe. • All the activity is concentrated in the most mature region of the basin – the Norwegian North Sea.

Figure 6: Well P&A Forecast on the Norwegian Continental Shelf

100

Subsea Development and Suspended Exploration and Appraisal Wells Platform Wells

90

80

70

60

50

40

Number of Wells

30

20

10

0

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

Source: Oil & Gas UK

Number of Wells

Proportion that are Platform Wells

300

85%

10 See Abandonment of Obsolete Wells and Installations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf; a Study into the Magnitude and Technical and Economic Challenges, June 2014 , University of Stavanger, at http://bit.ly/1m8jpNW

20