With around 700 facilities estimated to be approaching the end of life in the Middle East, decommissioning activity is set to accelerate.
An indication of the activity to come was the award of a decommissioning engineering contract earlier this year to McDermott by QatarEnergy, in the first project of its kind in the country. McDermott will develop a comprehensive technical and commercial framework and conduct detailed techno-economic studies to ensure the safe and systematic retirement and removal of 27 ageing offshore platforms and associated subsea infrastructure. Leveraging its deep knowledge of these assets, most of which it installed, and global expertise in strategic offshore decommissioning, McDermott says will deliver a solution that prioritises safety, efficiency and environmental responsibility, ensuring seamless transition from decommissioning definition engineering to execution.
The company is “uniquely positioned to deliver a landmark framework that will set new industry benchmarks and establish best-in-class standards for future decommissioning efforts in the region and beyond," according to managing director Mike Sutherland, McDermott Senior Vice President, Offshore Middle East.
Structured and integrated approach
The fact that the Middle East is at an early stage in the decommissioning journey means that a structured and integrated approach to decommissioning can be introduced at the outset.
Lee Vettese, regional manager – Middle East at leading logistics, materials and operational management specialist ASCO argues that getting the decommissioning model right now will reduce risk, protect schedules and build the local skills, infrastructure and supply chains needed for future projects.
It is about building the physical capacity, regulatory frameworks, specialist skills and operating models needed to manage decommissioning safely and efficiently, he says, highlighting that the Middle East can learn from the experience of more mature decommissioning markets such as the North Sea, combining international delivery experience with local content and knowledge.
Asco has recently opened an office in Qatar, its first in the Middle East, to serve the growing GCC and wider Middle East market, seeing increasing demand in a number of areas including environmental handling and decommissioning services.
Middle East in its sights
Also having the Middle East in its sights as a critical market, is a new decommissioning partnership between Aquaterra Energy, a leading provider of engineered products and services for well access and offshore developments, and James Fisher, a global provider of specialist marine and energy solutions. The two organisations aim to streamline offshore decommissioning delivery by providing energy operators with a single, integrated route to plan and execute well abandonment and infrastructure removal programmes, in contrast with fragmented traditional decommissioning models, connecting early-stage planning, detailed engineering, and well access with final offshore execution. For operators, this means fewer handovers between disparate contractors, substantially stronger accountability throughout the project lifecycle, and greater certainty from initial scope development through to final execution.
Also targeting the Middle East as a priority region is Blue Ocean Decom, a new company set up to provide engineered, specialist subsea removal solutions for the offshore energy sector as global decommissioning activity accelerates. With a focus on execution discipline and environmental responsibility, the firm provides specialised equipment packages to support complex platform and well cutting operations, as well as services for the safe subsea asset removal of pipelines and risers, seabed preparation and clearance, and subsea asset recovery.
“Decommissioning no longer represents a simple back-end obligation. The industry now treats it as a top strategic priority. Operators face immense pressure to execute these complex projects with absolute precision,” the company comments, viewing subsea removal as deserving the same level of specialist attention as any other critical path discipline.
