The Centre of Decommissioning Australia (CODA) has appointed six industry leaders to form the organisation’s Supervisory Committee to bring increased strategic focus and expertise to the efforts to address decommissioning Australia’s aging oil and gas infrastructure.
CODA, which was established in March 2021, is uniquely positioned to drive collaboration in Australia’s oil and gas industry to collectively answer strategic questions about decommissioning options based on technical, safety and environmental knowledge. CODA's research shows there is more than $50bn of necessary offshore decommissioning work to be done — over half of which is anticipated to be started within the next ten years.
Francis Norman, CODA General Manager Decommissioning and Strategy, said the committee’s appointment marked a change of gear for CODA. He noted, “The support and input from a group of such experienced and engaged industry leaders will help accelerate CODA’s ability to work across the whole of Australian industry to build our domestic capability to address our own decommissioning needs, as well as position Australia to become a significant partner in the region’s decommissioning work.”
The committee consists of:
• Richard Perry — Decommissioning Manager, ExxonMobil Australia
• David Banks — Chief Technical & Marketing Officer, Santos Ltd
• Jay Southwell — APAC Subsea Services leader, Baker Hughes
• Brian Matthews — Marine, Subsea & Automation Manager, IAS Group
• Ineke Reyboz — Contracts and Commercial Consultant (independent member)
• Harvey Johnstone — Environment Director, International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (independent member)
“By applying research from the National Decommissioning Research Initiative, we and our industry partners will ensure Australia's future decommissioning activity will be built on independent and sound scientific research, providing the best possible outcomes for industry, environment and community,” said Norman.
Richard Perry, Decommissioning Manager, ExxonMobil Australia, said, “After an extensive history of successful resource development and energy supply across Australia, our national fields are starting to reach the end of their productive life leading to the dawn of a new industry, and with it, some fantastic opportunities.
“With the broad geographical expanse between major basins in Australia, CODA will be a crucial conduit to enable growth of this industry to be optimised for all parties throughout the supply chain and it is very exciting to be part of this journey.”
Jay Southwell, APAC Subsea Services leader, Baker Hughes, added, “The decommissioning era within Australia is swiftly gaining momentum, but it’s a complex subject. Strategic complexity requires an evolution in the way we share project and service information.
“With the launch of CODA, we now have a great opportunity to collaborate, share best global practices and make a real difference to support the Australian decommissioning sector to permit the safe removal of assets without impacting the environment.”
Contracts for CODA foundation phase projects have been recently awarded. Due for delivery in early 2022, these projects will build knowledge and understanding of the local decommissioning and recycling capability, provide Australian industry with an easily accessible digest of international best practice that can be used locally, and set out a pathway for innovation and new technologies for the industry. These include:
• Understanding the opportunity for local disposal and recycling pathways — Advisian
• Development of a decommissioning innovation and technology roadmap — Linch-pin
• Global review of decommissioning planning and execution learnings — Advisian
