DECOMMISSIONING INSIGHT 2014
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2. Key Findings
• In 2013, £470 million was spent on decommissioning.
• Total forecast expenditure on decommissioning from 2014 to 2023 is £14.6 billion
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.
• Total forecast expenditure has increased since 2013 due to the following factors; £3 billion is attributed to new
respondents to the survey and £1.2 billion is attributed to higher forecasts from existing projects.
• Twenty-eight operators responded to the call for data, which is an increase on previous years.
• Forty-three per cent of total forecast expenditure will be concentrated in the central North Sea (£6.3 billion).
Many of the projects included in the 2014 survey for the first time are in this region.
• Relative to the
2013 Decommissioning Insight
report, six projects have been deferred with their expenditure now
occurring partially outside of the survey timeframe.
• Most of the decommissioning programmes captured in this survey are considered to be in the early scoping
stages. Forecasts are therefore subject to change as projects become more defined.
• The largest category of expenditure is well plugging and abandonment (P&A) at 44 per cent of the total forecast
(£6.4 billion).
• Operators forecast that decommissioning expenditure in 2014 will reach £1 billion for the first time in a single
year and will average £1.5 billion each year over the ten years (2014 to 2023).
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This figure excludes £520 million of expenditure data provided as lump sums and for decommissioning onshore terminals.
