The Scottish Government has made available an additional £5 million to the supply chain in Scotland to help maximise the economic benefit to Scotland of decommissioning of North Sea infrastructure.
Minister for Energy, Connectivity and the Islands, Paul Wheelhouse, announced that the Decommissioning Challenge Fund (DCF) will reopen for a third round of funding during a visit to Aberdeen to meet the new CEOs of Decom North Sea and Aberdeen Harbour, John Warrender and Michelle Handforth.
Following grant awards of £4.8 million in 2017, the DCF 3 will continue to support infrastructure upgrades at Scotland’s ports, innovation in retrieval and transport approaches, as well as supply chain projects that will strengthen Scotland’s decommissioning capability and capacity. The DCF can also support engineering scoping work, feasibility studies and business development at key sites to help to attract further private investment.
Alongside the Scottish Government’s Decommissioning Action Plan, developed and launched on behalf of Scottish Ministers by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise at the end of 2016, the Fund will help Scotland’s oil and gas supply chain make the most of decommissioning opportunities, both at home and abroad.
Minister Wheelhouse said:
“This round of the DCF includes both capital and resource funding, and it widens the scope of potential projects given that support is also now available for business development.
“The Scottish Government is committed to enhancing the capability of Scotland’s supply chain, with funding and assistance available for projects that will further contribute to making Scotland a world leader in decommissioning. We fully recognise that decommissioning is an emerging, but growing, activity in the North Sea. More than £17 billion is expected to be spent on decommissioning activity in the North Sea in the period up to 2025, with the peak for decommissioning activity in this area predicted to go beyond this. Scotland’s supply chain is winning the lion’s share of project value in areas like well-plugging and abandonment, but there is room to further increase market share in areas such as the salvage and disposal of top-side infrastructure.
“The budget for the DCF in 2018-19 will reflect the projects coming forward, and our ambition is to match the £5 million successfully awarded last year, however there is flexibility for this to increase if demand is demonstrated.”