On the UKCS, the decommissioning of offshore oil and gas installations and pipelines is controlled through the Petroleum Act 1998, as amended by the Energy Act 2008.  Under the Petroleum Act 1998, before the owners of an offshore installation or pipeline can proceed with its decommissioning, they must obtain approval of a Decommissioning Programme (DP) from OPRED.  An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and a Comparative Assessment (CA) must be undertaken to support the DP.

 

CAs are required for:

• All structures for which derogation is sought under OSPAR 98/3
• All pipelines being decommissioned under the Petroleum Act 1998
• All drill cuttings piles that are not screened-out at Stage 1 of OSPAR
  Recommendation 2006/5

 

Once the DP has been approved, the individual decommissioning activities (e.g. removal of the wellhead protection structure, pipeline decommissioning, mattress removal etc.) must be permitted via OPRED's Portal Environmental Tracking System (PETS).

 

Orbis is well placed to support clients with their decommissioning projects, given our extensive UKCS experience, and were recently contracted by Perenco UK Limited and Tullow Oil Plc to project manage and compile the EIA & CA for the Thames Area decommissioning project.  Orbis is also currently progressing the decommissioning permits and the Decommissioning Oil Pollution Emergency Plan for Thames on behalf of Perenco.