Agenda

Regional collaborations across the energy industry is essential to attain successful decommissioning. Operators and their licensed partners are accustomed to working together to explore, develop and produce hydrocarbons and have been highly innovative in doing this. It is natural that they work together and, other operators and organisations to decommission facilities. Collaborations go beyond sharing learnings and project discussions to ensure knowledge is distributed throughout the industry. It involves collaboration from all stakeholders throughout the entire decommissioning value chain including technology development, industry, academia and others. The executive plenary session will discuss the challenges and way forward to achieve regional collaborations for agile and sustainable decommissioning and abandonment execution.

Many upstream assets in Asia-Pacific are reaching the end of their lives and decommissioning is fast becoming a major issue. In many countries, legislative frameworks are in the early stages of development, and older Production Sharing Contracts ('PSC') or concession agreements often fail to cover decommissioning responsibilities. Most decommissioning projects have a common goal to carry out decommissioning and abandonment in a safe, timely and cost-efficient way. With regional collaboration among operators, technology innovators, research organisations and governments to support joint projects, knowledge transfer and innovations, the decommissioning scene can thrive and form an industry that can then service needs across the Asia Pacific region. This panel session will discuss key factors in forming a Regional Collaboration Roadmap. 

With increased decommissioning cost, the industry is now looking at how to achieve synergy of upstream, midstream, and downstream decommissioning. There are countries and organisations that have even set up cross-sector initiatives to ensure engagement, sharing and transfer of decommissioning learnings across the renewables, oil & gas, defence, space, process and waste sectors. This session will discuss the way forward in creating a synergy in upstream, midstream and downstream decommissioning. 

Over the next decades, the decommissioning of oil and gas platforms will be one of the main industrial, social, economic, and environmental challenges worldwide, due to the hundreds of platforms, millions of tonnes of infrastructure, and thousands of wells that will need to be plugged and abandoned, removed and recycled. The decommissioning of oil and gas o shore platforms refers to the series of processes involved in the deactivation of a facility at the end of its life, as well as its deconstruction and dismantling and the removal of components for reuse, remanufacturing, recycling, storage, and/or disposal. IMO guidelines stated that abandoned or disused offshore installations or structures on any continental shelf or in any Exclusive Economic Zone must be removed, except in several cases based primarily on the depth of the water and the size of the structure. This legislation has played a significant role in setting standards and has provided a framework for decommissioning that has influenced the approaches in many nations. This panel session will discuss sustainable decommissioning strategies, options, planning and related issues. 

Decommissioning must be carried out with proper financial planning and in tandem with other business priorities and projects. There are some elements that can help optimise an operator’s decommissioning activities, in line with its wider business initiatives like advance funding, contracting models, portfolio consideration and exit strategies. Whether it is from oil and gas fields, nuclear power plants, or other mega-projects, the high costs of decommissioning will be borne not just by infrastructure owners, but other stakeholders too. It is essential that planning including financial strategies get underway with due speed and are efficient, reviewed often, and based on a robust long-term view.

This panel will explore financing and contracting options available, and how it can boost decommissioning efficiency. 
 

New technology is usually designed to reduce risk and improve effciency. The focus is usually on the significant cost and time savings that can be unlocked through the utilisation of new technology to improve the decommissioning and abandonment process. With emissions reduction fast becoming a serious concern for the industry, technology that could help operators limit their climate impact is increasingly important. Operators are now on a strong push to also look at carbon emissions reduction, coupled with significant pressure from governments, shareholders, and clients to do so. Previously, the industry was focused on time and cost savings in environments when the rig cost was high. Now, operators are looking to reduce rig times, not just for the sake of cost, but also for emissions savings. Solutions are getting smarter and operators can now perform more operations in one run than what was done previously. This will be the way forward, to reduce footprint, reduce rig time and reduce the amount of manpower on drilling rigs. This panel will explore the latest innovations in the decommissioning and abandonment markets, and how these technologies can boost decommissioning e ciency and habitat value of infrastructure.

Mature reservoirs and changes in output levels are concerns, and operators must regularly re-assess the performance of every asset in production. Integrating well and facilities decommissioning is an efficient way of eliminating the ongoing costs of maintaining uneconomic oil and gas platforms, shut-in wells, and aging subsea infrastructure. Restoring the integrity of the reservoir caprock by sealing each well with a permanent, leak-free barrier enables operators to meet legal obligations and minimise liabilities once and for all. How can it be carried out efficiently to keep costs and risks under control?