Offshore Fixed Structures: Decommissioning

(asked on 11th May 2020) - View Source

Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps he is taking to support the offshore decommissioning sector in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK.


Answered by
Alister Jack Portrait
Alister Jack
Secretary of State for Scotland
This question was answered on 18th May 2020

The decommissioning of offshore oil and gas and renewables infrastructure on the UK Continental Shelf will be increasingly prominent in the years ahead as assets reach the end of their lifespan. It is the Government’s ambition for the UK to capitalise on the sizeable market opportunity available on our doorstep (within the UKCS and the wider North Sea) and use this advantage to become a global centre of expertise for offshore decommissioning. Industry estimates that £15.2 billion will be spent on decommissioning oil and gas assets on the UKCS over the next decade, with the emerging global market worth $85 billion (£67 billion), in the same period.

To support this ambition, last year the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy published a call for evidence to identify what more should be done to further strengthen Scotland and the UK’s position as a global hub for decommissioning, examining our areas of expertise and the export potential of our services. The Government response to this call for evidence will be published in due course.

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