Oceaneering and Aquaterra Partner in North Sea Decom
Offshore engineering specialist Aquaterra Energy reported on the 29th January that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Oceaneering International Services Ltd to offer decommissioning and late-life solution packages to the North Sea oil and gas industry.
Aquaterra noted the MoU will enable the companies to offer tooling and services in four areas: platform well abandonment, subsea well abandonment, topside and jacket removals and subsea removals.
“This collaboration with Oceaneering has been driven by a customer need for more complex solution players in the market,” commented James Larnder, managing director at Aquaterra.
“It’s not hard to see why: more than £15.2 billion (US$19.9 billion) will be spent on decom in the UK Continental Shelf over the next decade, with 2,379 wells expected to be decommissioned in the North Sea over the next ten years.
“We’re ready to tackle this challenge alongside Oceaneering and offer a seamless solution to clients.”
Lloyd’s Register (LR) has estimated the oil and gas industry will spend up to US$13 billion per year on decom activities worldwide, according to a 2018 Rigzone article.
Aquaterra noted the decom partners will initially focus their attention to opportunities in the Southern North Sea, using Aquaterra’s facilities in Great Yarmouth to deploy technology and personnel offshore.
“Partnering with Aquaterra Energy in the decommissioning sector offers the market a trusted established alternative that provides superior value supported from local facilities,” stated Leigh Martin, Oceaneering’s senior manager for the UK, Europe and Africa.
In addition, Aquaterra stated that it is developing a new decom and late-life conductor retrieval system which should be ready for deployment in the middle of this year.
“We’re really proud to be making this strategic move for our business with Oceaneering by our side and expect this to catapult us forward in 2020,” Mr Larnder concluded.
Source: Rigzone