Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the number of semi-submersible drilling rigs on the UK Continental Shelf which will be decommissioned in each year to 2025.

Mobile drilling rigs are legally classified as ships and are subject to shipping regulations. The Department has not estimated the number that have the potential to be decommissioned in the UK however we are aware that a number of UK ports and associated recycling/dismantling facilities across the UK have expressed an interest in decommissioning opportunities when they arise.