United Kingdom Offshore Decommissioning Market Trends

• Rising popularity of partial decommissioning: The popularity of partial decommissioning is having a significant influence on the offshore decommissioning market in the United Kingdom. With partial decommissioning, only part of an offshore oil and gas infrastructure is removed while other parts continue to be used. This trend is driven by factors such as reducing project costs and environmental impacts as well as potential for redevelopment and future energy uses. Partially decommissioned structures can potentially be redeveloped and reused for different energy generation.
• As per the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), the reuse of existing offshore facilities for activities like carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) or renewable energy reduces future costs of developing new infrastructure from scratch. OGA's survey from 2022 reported that over 50% of partially decommissioned assets in the U.K. can be repurposed for low-carbon energy projects in the next 10-15 years. This is a major driver for operators to opt for judicious partial decommissioning over immediate full removals. This trend is likely to grow stronger as industry and regulators explore new opportunities for transitioning aging oil & gas assets towards sustainable energy generation.
• Growing focus on the reuse and recycling of materials: The growing focus on the reuse and recycling of materials is having a significant influence on the United Kingdom offshore decommissioning market. With increased emphasis on sustainability and reducing environmental impacts, there is now a strong drive among oil and gas operators to find viable reuse options for infrastructure being decommissioned from offshore sites, rather than pursuing traditional direct disposal routes. This allows valuable materials and components to get a second lifecycle rather than being scrapped. As a result, reuse and recycling are fast becoming viewed as important value recovery and extraction strategies within depletion and decommissioning projects. For instance, offshore wind farms present opportunities for second use as they require similar materials and components to initially set up wind turbines. The Crown Estate, which manages the U.K.'s seabed, published data in 2022 stating that 27 wind turbine foundations and six substations were reused from oil and gas platforms for new wind farms between 2020 and 2022, preventing over 90,000 tons of steel from being scrapped.

Figure 1.United Kingdom Offshore Decommissioning Market Share (%), By Region, 2023