Thursday 23 July 1998

Industry Response To Ospar Decision

The UK oil and gas industry, represented by UK Offshore Operators Association, is concerned by the outcome of this first OSPAR Ministerial meeting regarding the disposal of disused offshore installations.

The agreement by OSPAR Ministers that all structures weighing under 10,000 tonnes should be totally removed, appears to have been based on political expediency rather than on sound scientific assessment and practical realities.

Although the decision taken by Ministers does provide some clarity to the issue of decommissioning, we fear that the assessment of individual cases in the Consultation Process which would precede any platform decommissionings in the future, will again be carried out in a climate of political compromise rather than through objective scientific reasoning, said James May, Director-General of UKOOA1.

The industry continues to believe that the best solution can only be reached on an individual assessment of each structure, balancing all factors including technical feasibility, health and safety of workers, the environment (impacts on land, sea and air) and economic considerations. Only in this manner can the right disposal solution for disused structures be found.

- more -

-2-

The Industry has never condoned indiscriminate sea disposal of any waste and has always supported the presumption against sea disposal as set out in the OSPAR Convention. The Industry will totally remove as many structures to land as is feasible as long as that is the right overall solution for the environment.

Editors Notes:

* The new 10,000 tonnes removal criteria will mean that at least 80% of North Sea Structures will be totally removed and brought to shore.

* The structures weighing over 10,000 tonnes will be assessed on a case by case basis as to whether they should be totally removed or whether the footings2 of the structure might be left in place. The footing can be in the region of 25 metres off the seabed and weigh as much as 30% of the total substructure or jacket weight.

* The estimated cost of total removal of all structures in the North Sea is $20 billion.

* The estimated cost for removing a large steel structure (as defined by the IMO Guidelines) in the North Sea, is £100-200 million.

* Full removal costs could be as much as 1.5 to 3 times the cost or partial removal.

* The best solution for disused offshore installations should be reached by balancing technical feasibility, health and safety, environment (impacts on land, sea and air) and economic considerations.

* All existing concrete structures will be left in situ and there is no new obligation on future concrete installations other than a general policy to avoid their use.

* Some of the large steel structures can be as high as the Eiffel Tower (300 metres) and weigh five times more.

 

1 UKOOA - The UK Offshore Operators Association is the UK representative organisation for the UK offshore oil and gas industry. Its members are companies licensed by the Government to explore for and produce oil and gas in the UK waters.

2 The footings, referred to by OSPAR, are the heavy steel foundation which consists of the bottom section or bay of the structure to which the heavy external pile guide clusters are attached. The bottom of the legs in this section often become wider in diameter, as in the shape of a bottle, and are therefore sometimes referred to as bottles.

For more information, please call 020 7802 2400.