Bookings have officially opened for the annual Offshore Decommissioning Conference organised by Decom North Sea in partnership with Oil & Gas UK.
This year it is being held at a new venue, the Fairmont Hotel, St Andrews, on 9-11 October. With decommissioning North Sea oil and gas facilities projected to cost £30 billion or more over the next three decades, the focus for the interactive event will be on reflecting on the past and preparing for the future.
The annual event follows on from two previous sell out conferences, with over 240 delegates from the UK, Norway, The Netherlands and the USA attending the 2011 conference.
Across the two conference days, a full schedule of workshops and presentations will cover main themes including a market update, current and future projects, late life operations and preparation for decommissioning, management of platform well plugging and abandonment and an update on industry initiatives.
The conference will be chaired jointly by Brian Nixon, Decom North Sea’s chief executive and David Ripley, Oil & Gas UK’s supply chain director. They will be joined by a line-up of industry experts, who will share their knowledge of decommissioning and encourage delegates to participate in a range of interactive discussions on topical issues including current and projected decommissioning levels, lessons learned from recent major projects and collaboration and re-use.
Mr Nixon said: “We have already experienced a high level of interest for this year’s event from a wide variety of companies interested in decommissioning – this has included small supply chain companies, contractors and major operators who are all keen to be involved in informative, open dialogue about the market. The conference is the perfect opportunity to bring key players together to help every company understand how it can capitalise on the projected decommissioning opportunities and to encourage companies to work collaboratively to prepare for the challenges ahead.”
David Ripley said: “While decommissioning may not be the primary activity on the UK continental shelf for the coming decade, Oil & Gas UK’s latest Decommissioning Insight report reveals that 51 decommissioning projects will take place over the next five years. We have more than twelve years’ experience of decommissioning installations in the North Sea to build on and it is clear that the sector represents a growing business opportunity for the supply chain. The conference provides the ideal opportunity for attendees to contribute to discussion and share knowledge as we look towards the future.”
[mappress] Press Release, July 26, 2012