The Industry Technology Facilitator (ITF) and Norwegian Energy Partners (NORWEP) are hosting joint technology hackathon events later this month to collectively tackle operator late life and decommissioning challenges.

Ben Foreman, ITF Technology Manager

Supported by the UK Oil & Gas Authority (OGA) and the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, the Hackathon events are part of a major North Sea effort to harness new cost saving ideas and technologies to directly address the key production enhancement and cost reduction challenges laid out by operators. They will also look at ways to enhance safety, minimize impact on the environment and create additional value for companies and governments.

The UK/Norway Joint Technology Hackathon events will take place in both Aberdeen and Stavanger, and will feature presentations from AkerBP, ConocoPhillips, Point Resources, Repsol Sinopec Resources UK Limited, Shell and Statoil. Each operator will share their current challenges in the area, followed by interactive group sessions to discuss potential solutions. Challenges include balancing late life production with decommissioning and optimising safe, reliable and cost-efficient production from mature fields with significantly extended lifetime.

Bill Cattanach, Manager of Supply Chain at the OGA said: “The OGA is delighted to support the hackathon events and the opportunity to work in partnership with Norway. The successful implementation of innovative solutions can extend the life of mature fields and reduce their eventual decommissioning costs. It is accepted many enabling solutions lie within the supply chain and combining forces across the North Sea makes this an even more powerful approach.”

Ben Foreman, ITF Technology Manager added: “Optimising late life field assets and field abandonment represents a major challenge in the North Sea. By directly engaging with influential operator specialists, and collaborating with our peers in Norway, we have the opportunity to provide a platform to highlight innovative approaches, processes and technologies. The output report, which will be shared after the event, will be used to develop an actionable forward plan and we look forward to working with both the OGA and the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in facilitating this vital work.”

The first event takes place at Aker Solutions in Aberdeen on Wednesday, November 22nd, 2017. The cost to attend the event is £50 (inc VAT) per person. To view the event agenda, the operator challenges and to register to attend the UK event please visit the ITF website.

For further details and to register to attend the event held in Norway on November 30th, please visit the NORWEP website.