NOPSEMA seeks partners to streamline decommissioning projects

Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) is seeking industry partners for a pilot project designed to investigate ways to streamline decommissioning of stranded or end-of-life oil and gas infrastructure.

Australia has an estimated $50 billion (Aus.) worth of decommissioning work in need of completion by 2050, according to a 2020 Wood Mackenzie report, half of which needs to begin within the next 10 years, NOPSEMA said.

The offshore regulator is working in conjunction with the Federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) to evaluate options to accelerate assessment of decommissioning work proposals.

The project is aimed at understanding the technical, legal, policy, and administrative feasibility of full or partial streamlining of assessments. The process also could help reduce regulatory overlap and improve consistency while also maintaining desired environmental outcomes.

NOPSEMA said the initial phase of the project will be a trial in which the regulator will provide technical advice to support DCCEEW’s assessment of sea dumping permit applications for decommissioning projects regulated in tandem with environmental plans under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Environment) regulations.

Sea dumping is a term used to describe ‘rigs to reef’ and carbon capture storage projects.

NOPSEMA has identified one partner and has begun an initial trial, but the regulator needs industry input to nominate additional suitable decommissioning proposals to join the project’s first phase.