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Northern North Sea and West of Shetland
•
The number of wells forecast for P&A over the next ten years in the northern North Sea and west of Shetland
has increased to 430 from 326 in the 2015 survey.
•
The addition of 81 platform wells and 23 subsea wells is due to two large platform removal projects and a
subsea project that now expect to carry out decommissioning earlier due to the challenges of operating in a low
oil price environment.
•
Seventy-three per cent of wells for P&A in these regions are platform wells.
•
Forty-eight wells are forecast to be plugged and abandoned in 2016, with an annual average of 65 wells between
2016 and 2018.
•
As several P&A campaigns are likely to start earlier to take advantage of current low rig rates, 80 more wells are
expected in the near term (2016 to 2018).
•
Activity is forecast to spike at 79 wells in 2023 due to the three new projects in the northern North Sea.
Figure 4: Number of Wells Forecast to be Plugged and Abandoned in the
Northern North Sea and West of Shetland
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Number of Wells
Platform
Subsea Development
Suspended Subsea E&A Wells
Source: Oil & Gas UK
Increased Uncertainty
in Forecasts
Number of Wells 2016 to 2025 Proportion that are Platform Wells
Total
1,074
52%
CNS
644
37%
NNS and W o S
430
73%
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