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Norwegian Continental Shelf
•
Approximately 800 of the 3,800 wells that will eventually require decommissioning on the Norwegian Continental
Shelf have already been plugged and abandoned
16
. Of the remaining 3,000 wells, 12 per cent (362) are forecast to
be decommissioned between 2016 and 2025, rising from 284 reported earlier this year due to ten new projects
that lie at the end of the survey timeframe.
•
Eighty-five per cent of wells for P&A over the next decade are platform wells compared to 95 per cent forecast
in the last
Norwegian Decommissioning Insight
as the new projects have a higher proportion of subsea wells.
•
All of the well P&A activity is concentrated in the Norwegian North Sea region of the basin with the exception of
one suspended subsea E&A well in the Norwegian Sea.
•
Activity in the near term (2016 to 2020) has increased as the durations of a number of large P&A campaigns have
reduced in light of experience gained from previous activity.
•
Forty-eight wells are forecast to be plugged and abandoned in 2016, with an average of 41 wells per year from
2016 to 2020.
•
Activity is estimated to peak at 90 wells in 2025 due to the new projects included.
Figure 6: Number of Wells Forecast to be Plugged and Abandoned on the Norwegian Continental Shelf
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Number of Wells
Platform Wells
Subsea Wells
Source: Oil & Gas UK
Increased Uncertainty
in Forecasts
Number of Wells 2016 to 2025 Proportion that are Platform Wells
Total
362
85%
Norwegian North Sea
361
85%
Norwegian Sea
1
0%
Barents Sea
No activity
No activity
16
See
Abandonment of Obsolete Wells and Installation on the Norwegian Continental Shelf; a Study into the Magnitude
and Technical and Economic Challenges
, June 2014, University of Stavanger, at
http://bit.ly/1m8jpNW1
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