Platforms may be similar in characteristics and configuration, but the cost of decommissioning them can differ significantly depending on location, climate and regulations. The recent oil price slump has boosted interest in decommissioning, and Rystad Energy has therefore developed a decommissioning cost estimating tool to help E&Ps and service firms prepare for the coming decommissioning wave. In its most recent analysis, Rystad Energy estimates that the cost of removing a steel platform in the North Sea, excluding subsea infrastructure, is above twice the cost of the same task in Southeast Asia. The study is based on two similar steel platforms, one in each region, located in 60 meters of water with four piles, a topside weight of 1,500 tonnes and a jacket weight of 800 tonnes.
Facility removal for the platform described above would cost $22.35 million in the North Sea, comparing to just $9.08 million in Southeast Asia, mainly driven by the higher spread rates as well as weather conditions which can represent a significant operational challenge.
The removal costs include elements such as heavy lift vessels, support barges and tugs, and cutting and diving crews, which would be mobilized to the fields for the decommissioning operation. The entire topsides would be removed in one piece, as we have accounted for a heavy lift vessel with sufficient lifting capacity........MORE
Sounds like a job for....
a couple oil tankers lashed together.
That's Allseas' Pioneering Spirit which holds pretty much all the commissioning and decommissioning heavy-lift records. Here are the press releases.
