These four technical papers provide an overview of how facility decommissioning is addressed these days, including a case study in east Asia and a discussion of what to do with pipelines, flowlines, and umbilicals to preserve the environment—should they stay, or should they go?
Certain things or events that you use to illustrate something immediately show your age, and this introduction is a good example. When I began my career in the oil industry, the North Sea Brent field was the poster child for an offshore oil field. I remember how details of the field development were used to explain to me how things were done, and at no time did anybody ever use the word “decommissioning”. These offshore platforms were here to stay. Now, some 40 years later we know better. Most of the Brent facilities have been decommissioned, and these days the design of new facilities must take into account their decommissioning at some point in the future.
News article on 04 October 2021 by Gerald Verbeek from jpt.spe.org
For further reading, please visit jpt.spe.org >> Facility Decommissioning: New Approaches to Planning, Engaging Stakeholders, and Pipelines