The Recommissioning Partnership

Major players from across the spectrum of the offshore industry continue to work with the region's leading academics to identify and promote the opportunities created through re/decommissioning.

Established in 1996, the Recommissioning Partnership is a public-private partnership operated under the auspices of EEEGR. It brings together a community of industry stakeholders to achieve expert knowledge in the recommissioning and decommissioning of offshore structures and infrastructure, primarily in the Southern North Sea.

It comprises large and small interested parties and community representatives. These include offshore operators, local councils, a wide range of industry contractors and consultants, the University of East Anglia, Cranfield University, University of Cambridge, local port authorities and the Department of Trade and Industry. 

The re-use options for North Sea pipelines

Over the next 40 years UK oil and gas production will decline, resulting in the decommissioning of offshore installations. While it is generally accepted that offshore platforms have limited alternative uses, this may not be the case for the associated 11,000 km of pipelines. While platforms will be progressively removed, the vast, well integrated pipeline system, emanating from the east coast of the UK, will be assigned to remain largely in place with a potential lifespan, estimated by a leading operator to be 200-300 years. This unprecedented maritime investment is unlikely to be repeated.

EEEGR, through the Recommissioning Partnership, has brought together a wide ranging partnership of industry stakeholders together to assess whether there are technically viable re-use options and, if so, to suggest a process whereby this use can be enabled for the benefit of UK plc. The report titled ‘The Re-Use of Offshore Oil and Gas Pipelines' makes clear that, while it is considered by others to be a thought provoking and useful report, it is not a definitive  document on the pipeline and field infrastructure. Parties seeking to assess opportunities involving specific infrastructure should consult the operator of that infrastructure.

The report concludes that pipelines in general and those in the Southern North Sea (SNS) in particular can be re-used for a number of transportation options. 

The most technically feasible re-use options are:

1. Carbon dioxide to depleted gas fields as part of broader carbon capture and storage projects and enhanced oil recovery schemes.

2. Hydrogen from offshore separation plants to onshore distribution points as part of a future hydrogen economy.

3. The transportation of gas produced by offshore underground coal gasification in the longer term.

Decision making relating to any specific asset decommissioning programme will inevitably require detailed technical (e.g. integrity and maintenance costs, economic analysis, and an environmental and social impact assessment that have not been considered in this report

The report also concludes that issues relating to pipeline change of ownership, re-use, liability and ultimate decommissioning can be managed by changes to the Petroleum Act 1998. The degree and difficulty of change to primary legislation will need to be assessed.

The re-use of offshore pipelines would make a major contribution in assisting the UK to achieve its targets of carbon gas reduction and renewable energy production by providing a cost effective link between industry and offshore. This is in line with the government's strategy of becoming a leader in these fields. Achieving this would provide significant national opportunities for innovation, project development, business, sustained employment and substantial export potential.