UK’s Industry Technology Facilitator (ITF) and Norwegian Energy Partners (NORWEP) will address operator late life and decommissioning challenges in jointly hosted technology hackathon events later this month.
ITF said on Monday that the first event would take place at Aker Solutions in Aberdeen on Wednesday, November 22, while the event in Norway would be held on November 30 in Stavanger.
“Supported by the UK Oil & Gas Authority (OGA) and the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, the Hackathon events are part of a major North Sea effort to harness new cost-saving ideas and technologies to directly address the key production enhancement and cost reduction challenges laid out by operators. They will also look at ways to enhance safety, minimize the impact on the environment and create additional value for companies and governments,” ITF said.
The organization added that the two events would feature presentations from AkerBP, ConocoPhillips, Point Resources, Repsol Sinopec Resources UK Limited, Shell, and Statoil. Each operator will share its current challenges in the area, followed by interactive group sessions to discuss potential solutions.
Balance between late-life output and decom
According to ITF, the challenges include balancing late-life production with decommissioning and optimizing safe, reliable, and cost-efficient production from mature fields with significantly extended lifetime.
Bill Cattanach , manager of supply chain at the OGA, said: “The OGA is delighted to support the hackathon events and the opportunity to work in partnership with Norway. The successful implementation of innovative solutions can extend the life of mature fields and reduce their eventual decommissioning costs. It is accepted many enabling solutions lie within the supply chain and combining forces across the North Sea makes this an even more powerful approach.”
Ben Foreman , ITF technology manager, added: “By directly engaging with influential operator specialists, and collaborating with our peers in Norway, we have the opportunity to provide a platform to highlight innovative approaches, processes, and technologies. The output report, which will be shared after the event, will be used to develop an actionable forward plan and we look forward to working with both the OGA and the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in facilitating this vital work.”