Billions of pounds will need to be spent each year on decommissioning North Sea infrastructure, providing a massive opportunity for UK firms, a report has found.
After £8 billion was spent between 2017 and 2022 on decommissioning projects, some £2 billion a year will likely be allocated over the next decade, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) said on Wednesday.
“Encouragingly”, 70% of the workload was picked up by British firms last year, the government-owned body added, in line with pledges to ensure at least half of North Sea wind-down projects are given to the UK supply chain.
“The North Sea decommissioning sector is highly active and productive,” group director Pauline Innes said.
“The industry is ideally placed to realise the massive opportunity which will come its way.”
Though the authority has previously highlighted opportunities from new projects, such as carbon capture and, of course, further oil drilling, its latest report eyed up benefits from those at the end of their life span.
These are “a massive opportunity to keep developing skills and experience in the basin and help the supply chain win lucrative contracts overseas”, the NSTA said.
Granted operators ensure that current assets cannot be repurposed, decommissioning is another of the opportunities that industry members face, trade body Decom Mission added.