Marathon Oil has submitted to the UK Department for Business Strategy and Industrial Strategy a consultancy draft of plans to decommission its Brae Alpha, Brae Bravo, Central Brae, West Brae and Sedgwick offshore facilities.
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Brae Bravo. Image from Marathon. |
The company said in the document that it has already extended the life of the Brae Field beyond initial projections, and that production will become sub-economical in the short-term. Under the proposed plan, Marathon will plug and abandon the Brae Alpha and Brae Bravo platform wells and the Central Brae, West Brae, and Sedgwick subsea wells according to UK Oil & Gas Guidelines.
The Brae Alpha and Brae Bravo platform topside modules, and the Brae Bravo flare bridge and flare jacket/substructure will be removed and returned to shore for reuse, recycling or disposal. The Brae Alpha and Brae Bravo jackets/substructures will be removed to the top of the jacket/substructure footings. The portions of the jacket that are removed will be returned to shore for recycling or disposal, and the Brae Alpha and Brae Bravo jacket/substructure footings will be left in place.
The company in 2015 submitted a cessation of production (CoP) application for Brae Bravo, which was approved in 2016 by the Oil and Gas Authority. The CoP for Brae Bravo is expected in 2018, Marathon said. The CoPs of Brae Alpha, Central Brae, West Brae and Sedgwick will take place after the Brae Bravo CoP; CoP applications will be submitted for these facilities at the appropriate time.
All of the Brae facilities are located approximately 270km northeast of Aberdeen in approximately 110m of water. The Brae Alpha, Brae Bravo and Central Brae installations are located within UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) Block 16/7a. The West Brae subsea development is located in UKCS Blocks 16/7a, and the Sedgwick subsea installation is located entirely within UKCS Block 16/6a.
According to Marathon’s website, Brae Alpha started production in 1983, Brae Bravo in 1988 and East Brae in 1993. The Central and West Brae/Sedgwick subsea tie-backs to Brae Alpha commenced production in 1989 and 1997 respectively. The Braemar subsea tie-back to East Brae started producing in 2003.
Decommissioning activity and spending is expected to rise as the oil and gas industry addresses the growing number of aging offshore oil and gas facilities. IHS-Markit reported earlier this year that decommissioning spending will grow from $2.4 billion in 2015 to $13 billion per year by 2040, and that more than 600 projects will need to be decommissioned. Europe is expected to absorb for 50% of decommissioning spending over the next five years as operators remove major North Sea offshore structures.
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