Referencing the many mature offshore fields that are drawing ever-closer to retirement, Baker Hughes has published a 'Perspectives' article exploring why improving the cost for plug and abandonment is not only an industry opportunity but an industry imperative.
The article highlighted that, for the first time in history, a large proportion of offshore oil and gas infrastructure is now careening towards costly decommissioning as productivity wanes. According to Wood Mackenzie Lens data, by 2030 global decommissioning expenditure will hit an average of US$15bn a year, rising to US$25bn in 2035. Between 2021 and 2050, a staggering US$400bn will be spent.
Lorna Yuill, leader at Oil Field Services and Equipment (OFSE) Baker Hughes Growth Hub leader, said, “If we can properly support the well decommissioning phase, we can save our customers money while at the same time securing good outcomes for the environment.”
The team of OFSE Growth Hub has therefore sought to address this challenge and devise solutions to reduce the looming expense of decommissioning. One such envisioned answer is a Swiss Army-knife-life universal tool that can interface with virtually all vendor systems, offering advantages in terms of operators only having to deal with one supplier for one set of tools across a field of ageing wells.
“A customer might spend US$15mn on the single set of tools,” remarked Yuill, “but if they needed to go to four OEMs to decommission aging equipment across a field, they’d have to spend more than US$40mn on tools alone.”
She added that using just one set of tools to decommission the various components of any number of wells in a field, is more efficient, than having to use a variety of tools, and can therefore also reduce time spent on the decommissioning by between 30% and 50%.
View the full opinion piece from Baker Hughes, including real life examples of agnostic tooling being supplied, an exploration of how passive well monitoring systems can further help reduce costs and how the company is working to secure the safety of offshore decommissioning projects at: https://www.bakerhughes.com/company/energy-forward/aging-subsea-wells-brim-opportunity
