Decommissioning

Introduction

The Highlands and Islands boasts world-leading expertise in decommissioning – both in the North Sea oil and gas sector, and also in nuclear clean-up.

In 2017, Scottish Government announced a £5m Decommissioning Challenge Fund (DCF) targeted at supporting infrastructure upgrades and innovation in O&G structure retrieval and transportation methods at ports and harbours. It also encouraged engineering scoping work at key sites to build business cases and feasibility studies that help to attract private investment. The DCF aligned with cost reduction efforts related to retrieval and disposal activities, with the aim of enhancing the Scottish onshore decommissioning market.

A number of strategic sites and supply chain organisations in the Highlands and Islands received support from DCF, including; Stornoway Port Authority, Ardersier Port Ltd, Kishorn Port Ltd, Orkney Islands Council, Lerwick Engineering & Fabrication Ltd, and EMN Plant Ltd.

The Offshore Floating Asset Decommissioning Market Study, funded through the DCF, is now available.