What to do with ageing oil and gas platforms – and why it matters

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum.

Author: Victoria Masterson, Senior Writer, Forum Agenda

• Many of the world’s 12,000 oil and gas platforms are nearing the end of their lives, science journal, Nature, reports.
• These platforms can be dismantled and recycled – transformed into reefs for nature or diving, or repurposed as green energy hubs, for example.
• The World Economic Forum’s Fostering Effective Energy Transition 2023
  ranks 120 countries, including oil and gas-producing economies, on their energy systems.

Oil and gas platforms are immense – and so is the challenge of decommissioning them – withdrawing them from use.

There are 12,000 offshore oil and gas platforms around the world and many of them are nearing the end of their lives.

Decommissioning these structures safely and sustainably is tough – but essential.

Oil and gas platforms that have reached the end of their lives can be completely or partially removed from the ocean. They can also be moved elsewhere, abandoned in the deep sea or toppled and left on the sea floor, explain marine experts writing in the science journal, Nature.

How old are the world’s oil and gas platforms?

The North Sea has more than 1,500 platforms and installations with an average age of 25 years.

Another 1,500 oil and gas platforms are more than 30 years old in the Gulf of Mexico.

And in the Asia–Pacific region, more than 2,500 platforms will need to be decommissioned in the next decade, the report says.

Offshore platforms can be recycled

Dismantling and recycling end-of-life oil and gas platforms is one option for decommissioning.

An example is the Brent Delta platform, one of four installations from the Brent oil and gas field northeast of the Shetland Islands in the North Sea.

When this ceased production after nearly 35 years, its topside – the part of the platform above the waterline – was lifted out of the sea and shipped to a specialist decommissioning company in Teesside in the United Kingdom for dismantling.

An impressive 97% of the platform, including large amounts of steel, was reused or recycled.

Old rigs as reefs for nature

When the subsea parts of decommissioned oil and gas platforms are left in the sea, they can provide habitats for marine life like fish, corals, sponges, seals and whales.

Wildlife charity The Scottish Wildlife Trust says there can be ecological benefits to leaving oil rigs in place.

Researchers writing in the journal Ocean & Coastal Management argue that completely removing decommissioned oil and gas platforms would kill fish and destroy invertebrates, which include species such as molluscs and jellyfish.

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What’s the World Economic Forum doing about the transition to clean energy?

Moving to clean energy is key to combating climate change, yet in the past five years, the energy transition has stagnated.

Energy consumption and production contribute to two-thirds of global emissions, and 81% of the global energy system is still based on fossil fuels, the same percentage as 30 years ago. Plus, improvements in the energy intensity of the global economy (the amount of energy used per unit of economic activity) are slowing. In 2018 energy intensity improved by 1.2%, the slowest rate since 2010.

Effective policies, private-sector action and public-private cooperation are needed to create a more inclusive, sustainable, affordable and secure global energy system.

Benchmarking progress is essential to a successful transition. The World Economic Forum’s Energy Transition Index, which ranks 115 economies on how well they balance energy security and access with environmental sustainability and affordability, shows that the biggest challenge facing energy transition is the lack of readiness among the world’s largest emitters, including US, China, India and Russia. The 10 countries that score the highest in terms of readiness account for only 2.6% of global annual emissions.

To future-proof the global energy system, the Forum’s Centre for Energy & Materials is working on initiatives including Clean Power and Electrification, Energy and Industry Transition Intelligence, Industrial Ecosystems Transformation, and Transition Enablers to encourage and enable innovative energy investments, technologies and solutions.

Additionally, the Mission Possible Partnership (MPP) is working to assemble public and private partners to further the industry transition to set heavy industry and mobility sectors on the pathway towards net-zero emissions. MPP is an initiative created by the World Economic Forum and the Energy Transitions Commission.

Is your organisation interested in working with the World Economic Forum? Find out more here.

This oil rig is now a diving resort

In Malaysia, a decommissioned oil rig has been converted into a diving resort.

And more than 600 rigs in the Gulf of Mexico have been repurposed in similar ways as man-made reefs for diving, recreational fishing and other water sports, the Nature report notes.

This approach, where the underwater substructure of the platform is left under the sea, is known as “rigs-to-reefs” and has been used to decommission oil and gas platforms since the 1980s.

It can produce almost seven times less air-polluting emissions than completely removing the rig, the report suggests. However, opponents are sceptical and say abandoned platforms can leave harmful chemicals in the ocean.

Oil and gas platforms as green energy hubs

Decommissioned oil and gas platforms can be repurposed into green energy hubs to help the world transition to net zero emissions, some reports have suggested. This could include using offshore rigs for carbon capture and storage or storing and transporting hydrogen, a type of sustainable fuel that doesn’t emit carbon when it’s burned.

A report by government and industry partners in the United Kingdom in 2019 suggested using legacy oil platforms to produce green hydrogen, which is generated using renewable energy.

Some existing oil and gas platforms and pipelines could be used in these green energy hubs, the report suggests.

The need for cleaner energy is driving offshore innovation around the world

In its Fostering an Effective Energy Transition 2023 report, the World Economic Forum ranks 120 countries – including oil and gas-producing economies – on their current energy systems and transition to clean, sustainable sources of energy.

The report outlines actions by countries and industries. The United States, for example, has introduced funding for energy transition improvements including $4.7 billion to reduce methane emissions from orphaned oil and gas wells.

While, in Canada, oil and gas companies are investing in carbon capture and storage technology. And, in the United Arab Emirates, the cost of renewable energy has fallen rapidly in recent years, making it increasingly competitive with fossil fuels.

The “march of sustainable energy” has kept pace through a period of extreme volatility, the Forum says. And last year, for the first time, investments in low-carbon energy technologies surpassed a record $1 trillion.