Large-scale integrated, multi-asset decommissioning
Leading the turnkey planning and execution of bp’s Gulf of Mexico decommissioning.
When decommissioning liabilities for assets ‘boomeranged’ back to bp following the bankruptcy of Fieldwood Energy, bp selected Petrofac to lead a tightly integrated decommissioning solution.
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Client
bp
Scope
Large-scale integrated, multi-asset decommissioning
A large-scale, complex decommissioning project
With the client having not been involved in the returning assets for a number of years, the condition of the installations was unknown during the early stages of the project, creating challenges for the team to overcome.
The significant scale and integrated scope, led by Petrofac in alliance with Danos, covers end-to-end decommissioning services:
- Project management
- Planning
- Engineering
- Procurement
- Field execution oversight
Fast-track mobilisation of industry-leading experts
As the Government-issued Decommissioning Orders required immediate action, our ‘Boomerang’ project team was set up and mobilised from a standing start to taking over custody of the field in only 30 days.
Our Petrofac experts bring knowledge, experience, relationships, and a passion for decommissioning to the project, having collectively completed >2,500 wells, >250 platform and >350 pipeline decommissioning projects.
By leveraging our decommissioning experience in the UK, as well as our and Danos’ relationships in the Gulf of Mexico with over 250 vendors, we make the most of the local and global supply chain, securing best fit and best priced equipment, services, and capable crews, in a very tight and competitive market.
Governance and assurance are key
A transparent ‘cost-plus’ reimbursable commercial model efficiently handles ‘surprise’ discoveries of old and unfamiliar fields without the need for risk premiums or contract amendment processes.
Governance is guaranteed via a rigorous approval for expenditure (AFE) process, where every task has a scope of work, supporting technical justification, thorough risk review and a, to the dollar, cost estimate, which is tracked and reported daily.
Innovations drive savings
New approaches and ways of working that take advantage of the scale of the project result in efficiencies and cost savings.
Project ‘CostBusters’ are sought and tracked daily, with 28, worth over US$16 million, captured to date.
For example, prior to well work starting, extensive diagnostic and wellhead maintenance work is done by smaller, lower-cost crews ahead of the main well decommissioning campaign. This enables better planning, permitting and cost estimating.
Other savings come from efficiencies: well work is being batched into groups of 3-6 for execution in parallel to improve equipment and crew utilization and minimize non-productive time.
“This significant contract recognises our industry-leading decommissioning programme management experience and our unique in-house capability to manage all well and asset decommissioning phases. “Four decades of global expertise will be applied to the project, complemented by our already strong onshore presence in Texas.”