Wednesday 16 November 2016

New decommissioning service launched today by Lloyd's Register helps operators, equity holders, investors and regulators navigate the regulatory and technical complexities of late-life operations and decommissioning to drive significant cost savings, improve project efficiency, reduce risk, and safely decommission assets and facilities.

In-depth technical knowledge, cost estimation and determining decommissioning risk liabilities make it easier for companies to plan and execute with confidence against a challenging low oil-price market.

"Operators are faced with a huge challenge and conflict between maximising economic recovery, a low oil price and decommissioning on the horizon," says Alasdair Buchanan, Energy Director at Lloyd's Register.

"We understand decommissioning requires an investment with little to no return for operators, accompanied by an element of ambiguity globally about the requirements set by regulators and uncertainty on long term liability. The onus is on operators to execute decommissioning in the most cost effective manner, especially in jurisdictions such as the UKCS where tax relief is available on decommissioning activities."

Lloyd's Register is offering an integrated portfolio of late-life and decommissioning services to support operators, equity holders and regulators in key territories including the UKCS, GOM and across Asia in how best to manage their operations productivity, with minimal risk and cost effectively in the run up to Cessation of Production (CoP) and decommissioning.

"We are launching this new service to help duty holders, owners, operators, equity holders and regulators drive significant cost savings, improve project efficiency, reduce risk and safely decommission assets and facilities," highlights Buchanan. "Following several years of acquisition, we have the in-house capability to support industry across late-life operations and decommissioning. It is a unique offering from CoP preparation, planning and surveys, to plug and abandonment, waste management and monitoring post removal – all from one independent provider."

The expertise covers subsea operations through to topsides, offshore and onshore technical and engineering solutions, project and data management, assurance and commercial services.

Decommissioning doesn't need to be daunting

Industry estimates suggest the tax certainty created by the UK Government's policy for oil and gas decommissioning will drive at least an additional £13 billion of capital investment in the North Sea.

"If you're responsible for any element of decommissioning or if your operations are moving towards CoP, you'll know only too well the scale of the project ahead of you," says Buchanan. "For any operator or investor, issues exist around managing costs, environmental and safety implications and the daunting challenge of navigating through the regulations and standards that must be adhered to, but it doesn't have to be a daunting process."

"We offer a wide range of services across the decommissioning life-cycle that provide a standardised process to decommissioning, that in itself, will lead to further cost savings and commercial incentives in planning, project managing, budgeting and execution."

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