28 / 74
DECOMMISSIONING INSIGHT REPORT
2016
28
For the substructure, the removal method depends on the type, weight and configuration. The substructures
to be decommissioned in the southern North Sea and Irish Sea are shallow-water jackets that typically weigh
less than 2,000 tonnes and are usually deployed in water depths of 55 metres or less so they may use a
single-lift removal method.
For larger substructures (barge-launched and some self-floaters), the jacket may be cut into smaller sections
in situ
and removed in segments. These more complex projects are typically located in the central and northern North
Sea and on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The decommissioning sector continues to innovate in developing
existing and new cutting technology to undertake this task.
Operators forecast that over 652,000 tonnes of topsides from 109 platforms are to be removed from the UK and
Norwegian Continental Shelves over the next decade.
While the majority of these platforms are located in the southern North Sea and Irish Sea (61 per cent), the area
with the greatest amount (40 per cent) to be removed by weight is the northern North Sea at over 262,000 tonnes.
This reflects the size of platforms in this region.
Topside removal activity in the near term (2016 to 2020) is lower with between 15,000 and 80,000 tonnes forecast
to be removed each year. This rises to 60,000 to 128,000 tonnes per annum from 2021 to 2025.
Considering the forecast for substructure removal, Figure 17 opposite shows that 316,272 tonnes of substructure
associated with 100 platforms are forecast to be removed between 2016 and 2025. Just over 30 per cent of this
weight comes from the northern North Sea region (96,737 tonnes).
Substructure removal on the UKCS is forecast to begin in 2017, while activity on the Norwegian Continental Shelf
is expected to start later in 2019. Again, substructure removal is lower in the near term (2017 to 2020) ramping
up to a peak of just under 60,000 tonnes in 2025. Although not captured in the dataset, activity beyond 2025
is likely to remain high as there are a number of projects that have removal activity scheduled for outside the
survey timeframe.
Overall, Figures 16 and 17 show that across the UK and Norway there will be decommissioning work available for
the supply chain in every year, although no single region anticipates a consistent streamof activity with fluctuations
from year to year and area to area. All of the activity on the Norwegian Continental Shelf is concentrated in the
Norwegian North Sea region.
A significant amount of work for both topside and substructure removal is yet to be contracted out, as demonstrated
in the following sections. This provides a significant opportunity for the supply chain to bid for this work as it
becomes available.
It should be noted that in the survey operators typically indicate a single year for removal activity, but removal
contracts commonly include a time window of several years in which the activity must take place.