Unwanted spend: how big is the deepwater decommissioning bill?

The top deepwater countries and operators have a US$27 billion decommissioning bill creeping up in the next ten years. However, they would prefer investing in cash-generating activities. Deepwater production got traction in the late 1990s, and many large pioneering fields are reaching 20 years of service life — a decision point for investing in service life extension or planning decommissioning. We have investigated the viability of tie-back opportunities, possible impacts on the deepwater rig market, the rising FPSO refurbishment industry and regulatory readiness for top spending countries.