Decommissioning of wells is a new, big market. An estimated 3000 wells are to be decommissioned on the Norwegian Continental Shelf alone.

“The cost is estimated at BNOK 876, which is totally unacceptable. The industry needs to improve existing technology and methods to reduce the cost. A 30 per cent technology upside is realistic”, says Marit Dolmen, RD&I Manager at GCE NODE.

A pre-study, funded by Sørlandets kompetansefond, has produced two reports on market opportunities within decommissioning and plug & abandonment.

NODE will focus on plug and abandonment, which is a major part of decommissioning.

“We will search for solutions that can outperform other big players that have their eyes set on this market”, says Dolmen.

Plug and abandonment is not cyclically sensitive, as the work has to be done regardless of ups and downs in the oil and gas market.