Wednesday 20 July 2016

New late life and decommissioning guide to attract more projects to East of England

A directory listing skills and services that companies in the east of England can provide the estimated £47bn North Sea decommissioning programme is to be published later this year.

The East of England Specialist Late Life and Decommissioning Guide is aimed at attracting more end-of-life projects to the region and contracts for east of England businesses.

Experts say that the region and Great Yarmouth have a “golden opportunity” to become a centre of excellence for the four-decade programme to dismantle the ageing gas platforms and plug and abandon wells in the Southern North Sea.

To help that happen, a comprehensive picture of the wealth of expertise and experience available in the region is being put together by partner organisations, including the Oil and Gas Authority, Great Yarmouth Borough Council’s economic development unit and the East of England Energy Group.

The guide will be made available to operators and asset owners in the Southern North Sea and beyond.

Stephanie Pimlott, business liaison and development officer in the economic development unit, said: “Great Yarmouth is globally recognised as an oil and gas centre of excellence,” she told more than 100 people gathered at Norwich City Football Club for the Decommissioning Special Interest Group run by the East of England Energy Group (EEEGR) and Decom North Sea.

Peterson and Veolia invested in creating a decommissioning facility at Great Yarmouth port last year in readiness for the programme to start.

“We want Great Yarmouth and the region as a whole to be a centre of excellence and to showcase the skills of the supply chain across the East of England.

“Great Yarmouth has always been known for its interest in collaboration therefore we are producing a guide for late life and decommissioning, which we plan to be a consolidation of the matrix we have previously compiled for offshore wind and similar to the fabrication guide that has been produced with EEEGR before.

“The capability matrix for the local supply chain for offshore wind was well received by developers.”

Information about the supply chain, with case studies and examples of collaboration, will form the guide.

“We are working to attract more decommissioning projects to Great Yarmouth and the region in general and our supply chain. In turn, the supply chain will be able to use the guide to see where they can get into the decommissioning industry and the gaps they can fill here.”

Simon Gray, EEEGR CEO, said: ‘Companies must be accurate and honest about the services they provided for decommissioning and late life projects and we will be using a third party organisation to gather the data and challenge for verification. We also welcome submission for case