Decommissioning Insight 2016 - Oil & Gas UK

Ten-Year Outlook

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• Over the next decade across the UK and Norway:

• More than 100 platforms are forecast for complete or partial removal.

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• Over 1,800 wells are forecast for P&A.

• Close to 7,500 kilometres of pipeline are lined up for decommissioning.

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• Forecast activity on the UKCS is significantly higher than on the Norwegian Continental Shelf over the next ten years. This reflects the relative maturity of the two regions, with more fields reaching the end of their field life in the UK.

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• On the UKCS, £17.6 billion is forecast to be spent on decommissioning between 2016 and 2025.

• This is an increase of £0.7 billion on the 2015 report’s ten-year forecast of £16.9 billion, primarily due to 41 new UKCS projects in this year’s survey.

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• Fifty-three per cent (£9.4 billion) of the forecast expenditure on the UKCS will be concentrated in the central North Sea. • The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate estimates that annual expenditure on decommissioning will average around £1 billion per year on the Norwegian Continental Shelf until 2020 5 , compared with close to £1.7 billion per annum on the UKCS. • With exception of one well in the Norwegian Sea, all decommissioning activity in Norway over the next decade is planned in the Norwegian North Sea area. • Compared with last year’s survey, the ten-year outlook for the average unit cost of platform well P&A has fallen by one-third in the southern North Sea and Irish Sea to £2 million, but has remained unchanged across the central North Sea, northern North Sea and west of Shetland at £4.1 million. • Average subsea exploration and appraisal well P&A unit costs over the next ten years are forecast to fall by over 35 per cent in the southern North Sea and Irish Sea to £5.6 million. The cost per well in the central North Sea, northern North Sea and west of Shetland is also set to be around 20 per cent cheaper at £6.2 million compared with forecasts made last year. • Subsea development well P&A unit costs over the next decade have fallen by around 20 per cent on average in the southern North Sea and Irish Sea to £7.6 million. The average forecast cost per well in the central North Sea, northern North Sea and west of Shetland has increased by around 3 per cent to £10.2 million. • The largest category of expenditure on the UK and Norwegian Continental Shelves is well P&A at 47 per cent and 56 per cent, respectively.

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5 See Norwegian Petroleum Directorate www.npd.no/en. Total forecast decommissioning expenditure from 2016 to 2025 is not available.

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