Challenges and Approaches to Solutions for Green Decommissioning and Recycling of Offshore Facilities

Abstract

The oil and gas industry is facing significant challenges with aging offshore units approaching the end of their service life. At this point, life extension or decommissioning becomes a strategically important decision. For the decommissioning pathway, in addition to safety concerns and financial impacts, the industry needs to perform their dismantling and recycling in a sustainable manner. Decommissioning and recycling projects involve aspects such as safety, environmental, regulatory, legal, and financial, all with complex interfaces and different risk levels. Effective planning is essential to enable the achievement of green recycling, targeting zero pollution and an accident-free environment. With the recent ratification of the Hong Kong Convention for ship recycling, increased attention from stakeholders will be given to the sustainable development goals ahead of the June 2025 effective date. Key steps followed by the integrated management of the project from the end-of-life decision to final waste disposal certificate are essential and will be addressed in this paper. Recognizing that green decommissioning of large offshore facilities is a complex task and mostly an untested field, rather than proposing generic discussions of the challenges that might be faced during decommissioning projects, this paper introduces the main topics by leveraging the expertise of experienced professionals. This paper reviews the technical, operational, and regulatory aspects of complex decommissioning projects and presents an informed process to mitigate the associated risks, as well as efficient management to achieve safety and sustainable KPIs within budget and performance levels. Then, it identifies the main challenges for sustainable decommissioning and recycling of offshore facilities and addresses solutions to mitigate them. Then best practices are proposed to manage the risks to successful completion in a safe manner and achievement of the important goal of a sustainable decommissioning and recycling process. The paper also discusses the main steps in executing a successful decommissioning and recycling project, covering identification of key drivers, efficient planning, and project strategies to mitigate risks.