Decommissioning the brent field
Part of our commitment to stakeholders has been to access the cells and sample this material
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| Part of our commitment to stakeholders has been to access the cells and sample this material
Right side: Diagram of delta legs with three smaller images arranged around Top left of diagram, image labelled Water level, two images inside, one half with labelling text, images and text indistinguishable Top right of diagram Delta legs and cells cross section Lower left of diagram, diagram of cross section with indistinguishable text heading and indistinguishable text at side and below Whole ensemble captioned below: DELTA LEGS & CELLS CROSS SECTION Bottom left text: Copyright of Shell UK Limited Duncan Manning in vision “We know that the cells not only contain attic oil at the top, a layer of water and the sediment…” Full wide of stage showing Institution of Technical Engineers logo, full slide, three chairs underneath the slide and speaker at lectern Duncan Manning voice over ”…but also a ballasting layer of gravel which was used to hold the structures in place whilst they were positioned.” [Video footage] Brent cell contents slide Duncan Manning in vision “The key component for us in engaging with stakeholders is to understand that sediment issue, not only understand quantity, but also understand composition. And we made a commitment to stakeholders that we would not move forward with this issue until we had a sample.” Full wide of stage showing Institution of Technical Engineers logo, full slide, three chairs underneath the slide and speaker at lectern Slide change during this delivery Duncan Manning voice over “This has been an area of specific focus for the Brent Decommissioning team, and also for our stakeholders. And it was for that reason that we generated the Cell Management Stakeholder Task Group, 15 members of our closest stakeholders, to focus specifically on this issue. Driving this to a conclusion, a key component for us was conducting that sampling process. And you can see here, whilst we did have a number of attempts to gain samples, we were successful in the summer of 2014…” Slide
Heading: Cell sampling Left side text: Cell sampling project / accuracy and independence
Sampling results
Right side SGS logo and Bureau Veritas logo Still of divers with underwater sonar equipment Across bottom of slide text: Cell management stakeholder task group; next to that two rows of stakeholder logos, not all distinguishable, but include – Department of Energy & Climate Change, Marine Scotland, HSE, Aberdeen Civic Forum, Marine and Coastguard Agency, Enviromental Agency, JNCC, Greenpeace, University of St. Andrews Bottom left: Copyright Shell UK Limited Top part of slide desaturates, leaving focus on the rows of stakeholders across the bottom, then resaturates Duncan Manning in vision “…conducting a cell sampling programme, gaining access to three of the cells on Brent Delta, not only gaining access but also extracting samples of both attic oil water and sediment. And that process was independently witnessed by Bureau Veritas, who witness a process of sampling, witness a process of holding those samples, but also the movement of those samples back to shore and then on to an independent laboratory, SGS. The analytical programme we developed was developed not only with our own internal experts, but also agreed with the Independent Review Group and had comments provided to it by the members of the CMSTG. So a very thorough and robust process to understand the composition quantity of the sediment, which allows us to understand what its impact is if it was to be left in place, but also what are the technical challenges associated with the other removal options. And what the output from the sampling project was that we have 4m of sediment in those cells, and those 4m of sediment…” Medium close of speaker at lectern Duncan Manning voice over ”…equates to about 1,000 cubic metres. And this is about 25% sand and grit, about 25% oil, and about 50% water. There's no trace elements of NORM, and trace elements of heavy metals. So this is, generally speaking, oily sand which is at the base of the cells. You can see here the output from the comparative assessment having looked at the five options that we explored in detail, was that, on balance, leaving the sediment in place makes more sense. We know that because of the…” [Video footage] Slide Heading: Output of Cells CA & summary Left side text:
Right side Cut away diagram of cell, text labelling each level down the depth of the cell – Exoprt line; 1m Attic oil; 1m interphase material; 0.73m Thick layer of concrete around the shell; Water; 4m Sediment layer in cell; Import line; 19m sand ballast at bottom of cell Underneath cell is width indicator of width of cell – 18.5m Bottom left: Copyright Shell UK Limited Duncan Manning in vision ”…very small environmental impact, in fact, a negligible environmental impact, that would occur if the sediment was to be released. But also understanding the challenges associated with getting into the cell, mobilising the sediment, extracting it, moving it to shore for processing, a process which in itself would generate lots of CO2, come with immense technical difficulty and safety risk. So whilst this has been a specific area of focus from our stakeholders, generally speaking, this is a conclusion which is accepted by the majority of the stakeholders. I'll handover to Alistair to talk about two of the more exciting elements of the project.” Full wide of stage showing Institution of Technical Engineers logo, full slide, three chairs underneath the slide and speaker at lectern Camera re-frame: during this delivery, slow move in to medium close at lectern At end Duncan Manning comes off stage, Alistair Hope goes onto stage Alistair Hope in vision “Thanks, Duncan.” Alistair Hope voice over “The field was discovered in 1971…” [Video footage] Cut away to member of audience, rear side-on view of member of audience Alistair in vision “…first production in 1976. To get the field into service that quickly we needed some of the best engineering, and the best engineers available at that time. I'm going to illustrate a couple of examples where that's exactly the same today for decommissioning. We need great engineers, and we need innovation and people thinking of new ways to decommission these facilities. We talked about the attic oil; the oil trapped in the tops of the cells. Taking the lessons we have from the cell sampling project…” Medium close-up at lectern Caption: Alistair Hope Project Director, Brent Decommissioning Alistair hope voice over “…we've developed, with a small company in Aberdeen, a fairly lightweight deployable unit. This thing weighs about three tonnes, can be deployed from the platform using remotely operated vehicles, so no divers involved. This is put on top of the cells, it provides a base plate from which we can use to drill through the metre thick of concrete, and then deploy a pump on to the top of that cell to pump out all the oil from each individual cell. We collect it in one cell, and then come along with the tanker…” [Video footage] Slide Three stills bled out across entire slide, one still across entire top half, two stills across bottom half Top left, slide heading and text over still: Attic oil recovery The Brent attic oil will be removed to shore for treatment and disposal Still is a graphic of the specially developed underwater unit on top of a cell Bottom left, black and white still of the unit underwater; bottom right, colour still, close up, of the deployed unit underwater Alistair Hope in vision ”... and evacuate it from there. So in this way we're able, fairly cheaply and safely, to take away that attic oil and bring it to shore for proper treatment and disposal. So this is very much two small Aberdeen-based companies developing technology to solve this relatively unique problem, but very fast, innovative, cheap, efficient and safe. At the other end of the scale, we've got a company like Allseas, who've developed…” Medium close up at lectern Alistair Hope voice over ”…Pioneering Spirit, which is probably the largest vessel in the world, nearly 1 million tonnes by displacement. This is going to come into the field and lift off the Brent Delta topsides in a single go and transfer it down to Hartlepool, where it will actually transfer the topsides on to this barge which is called Iron Lady, and then that barge will come into the estuary and into Able UK's facility.” [Video footage] Slide
Three stills bled out across whole slide One still taking up two thirds of slide at full depth, two still in remaining third one top, one bottom Top left slide heading and text, over still: Topsides remove & recycle Each platform topside will be removed to shore and over 97% of topside material will be recycled Still is aerial view of the enormous Pioneering Spirit vessel Text at bottom of still: Allseas Pioneering Spirit Slides on right of Able UK Yard, text labelling them at bottom of bottom slide Alistair Hope in vision “So we are the first customer to sign up to use this vessel. Shell and ExxonMobil did a huge amount of technical assurance on this, and we continue to do a lot of technical verification on this, both the design, the seaworthiness trials, test tank modelling. We will do a test lift later this year on a simulated platform that weighs about 5,000 tonnes in each step by step verification of this technology. We looked at 130 sites around the UK and the North Sea…” Medium close-up at lectern Alistair Hope voice over ”…to bring the topsides to, and we eventually selected Able UK on Teeside, based on their track record; their safety track record, their environmental track record, and the fact this is a very heavily industrialised area, so…” [Video footage] Topsides remove & recycle slide above Alistair Hope in vision ”…you're not creating noise or dust, or trucking material through communities. In all cases we had to invest in the facilities…” Medium close up at lectern Alistair Hope voice over ”…so in this case, we have to create a super-strong quay, so there's about 1200 piles that need to be piled into the clay to give us a firm foundation to put the 24,000 tonnes of Brent Delta on top of it. So once…” [Video footage] Topsides remove & recycle slide above Alistair Hope in vision ”…we bring in the Brent Delta, skid it on to the quayside, we'll go through a three-phased operation. Firstly, we'll make the thing safe. We'll then have an open house where we will invite people who've worked on Brent Delta and their families, but also the local community can come along and see what we're going to do. People can say goodbye to it, because many people have worked the entire 40 years out there on the platform; it is a second home to them. Once we've done that phase, there's a soft strip phase where Able will remove any materials that can be reused, take away hazardous materials like asbestos and dispose of those properly. And then finally, they bring the thing down on the ground as quickly and easily as they can and break it up with machines into scrap sized coupons which we'll then sell on. So I hope that illustrates some of the engineering challenges. We need innovation. We need creativity. We need great engineers to help us do decommissioning in a safe, environmentally responsible and efficient way. I'll hand back to Duncan.” Medium close at Lectern At end Alistair Hope leaves stage, Duncan Manning comes onto stage, Duncan Manning in vision “So I said at the start that, that in my mind, there were parallels between this project and the Olympics. In my mind, they were size, scale, complexity, a difficult environment to operate in, but also a requirement to engage with a wide range of stakeholders to understand a diverse range of views. Where we are at the moment is…” Camera re-frame: pull out to full width of stage frame, showing Institution of Technical Engineers logo, full slide, three chairs underneath the slide (Topsides remove & recycle slide still up) and speaker at lectern, at end slide changes to Summary slide Duncan Manning voice over “…we are about to step into that public consultation phase, setting out our recommendations in a written decommissioning programme to allow a public consultation phase to take place. That'll be 60 days long - we've doubled it from the normal 30 days - really to allow members of the general public to have a chance to really read and digest what we're proposing and then come back and ask questions. We believe that we have gone through a very thorough process. A very thorough process, not only backed up by sound science and engineering, but also through robust and elongated stakeholder engagement to really understand what the views of those most likely to be impacted, or those who have an interest in the project are going to be. And what we've come to is a solution which we do think is robust and meets the needs of as many of our stakeholders as possible. But really we're on to that next phase now of public consultation.” [Video footage] Slide Background is still of Brent platform Text box to left of slide Text:
Summary
Duncan Manning in vision “Throughout the process, we've been independently verified by the IRG, and have had to develop new, novel technologies to overcome some unique problems associated with the project, but also some of the generic problems which other operators are going to have. And it's up to us to ensure those are passed on to the rest of both the operators and the supply chain. We've had a really quick canter through what would usually take an hour and a half to give a presentation in depth. But more than happy now to hand over to Stephen to allow some questions to be asked.” Medium wide of speaker at lectern At end Stephen Tetlow comes up centres stage Stephen Tetlow in vision “Duncan and Alistair, thank you very much indeed for a very quick canter through, but nevertheless, a really interesting insight into the challenges that are confronting you. First of all, I'd like the audience to perhaps show their appreciation in the normal way.” Camera re-frame: slight move to right for medium on the two figures now on stage [Audio]
Audience applause Stephen Tetlow in vision “Perhaps you'd come and join us and take some questions. We've got some roving microphones available, so I'm going to probably take one or two questions at a time, if that's OK. And those of you asking questions, if you can wait until you've got the microphone and then perhaps if you could state who you are and why you're here. But I'd like to just kick off with a question myself, if I could. You mentioned that this was ground-breaking and new technology, and you emphasised that quite a lot through your presentation and it was obvious to many of us in this room the scale of the challenges ahead of you. And you then mentioned that Professor John Shepherd is heading up a team of experts in the Independent Review Group. So because it's all ground-breaking new technology, how can us ordinary members of the public be reassured that this Independent Review Group actually knows what it's talking about and give us that level of assurance? Who's going to start?” Camera re-frame: during this delivery pull out big wide of full stage with audience in the foreground, Shell Pecten now on slide screen Alistair Hope joins them on stage and the three are seated Camera re-frame: move in to frame of the three of them seated Alistair Hope in vision Well, actually I can see Professor Bill Dover there, who's one of our IRG members, in the audience. Perhaps we could ask him, in fact. [Audio] Laughter
Professor Bill Dover in vision “We've read numerous documents from the consultants and the contracting engineers and we've given our best views. There are six of us in this group, coming from all over Europe, with backgrounds in every aspect that you would want. And we have pushed Shell to improve the work at every stage. If we think they haven't done enough, we ask them to do more, and we try to make sure that they've done the right thing. So it's been quite a thorough business lasting, what, six or seven years now, that we've been asking questions and getting answers. So we've done our best. We can't reassure you completely that everything is perfect, but we've done our best. Thank you.” Duncan Manning voice over “I think indicative of the level of effort…” [Video footage] Members of the audience Duncan Manning in vision ”…we've gone to, extracting samples from the cells is one of those areas where it took a number of attempts to gain access in the cells. And if you can imagine this isn't just a case of deploying a bucket down a well and taking a water sample. We've had to deploy tools overside of the platform, penetrate through metre-thick reinforced concrete, which is 85m under the sea, drop down 60m into the cell and then extract a sample which has validity when it goes to a laboratory. As I say, there's been a number of attempts to do that, but indicative of how challenging that has been, we went to NASA. And we have a technology partnership with NASA, and now NASA have a miniaturised sonar which they use for checking the internal integrity of lines in the Space Shuttle. They adapted this for our project and flashed it into the cells on Brent Bravo, in order to capture a sonar image of the inside of the cell. That's the level of effort that we've gone to, to give you an indication that we have really reached out, well outside the normal oil and gas sector to try and find solutions to problems which do require real innovation to overcome.” Medium wide of Duncan Manning and Stephen Tetlow seated on stage Camera re-frame: move to medium wide of Duncan Manning only Stephen Tetlow off camera “Yes, thank you. Right…” Stephen Tetlow in vision ”…well thank you, thank you for that. Thank you for the answer there. Gentleman here, thank you.” Camera re-frame: move back to three-shot of Duncan Manning, Stephen Tetlow and Alistair Hope David Grasham off camera “Hello, David Gresham from Arup. Now that you've been through the decommissioning process almost all the way through for Brent Delta, in terms of the amount of effort that's been required, where do you think there are potential cost savings for future decommissioning outside of plug and abandonment?” Stephen Tetlow in vision “OK. Let's just park that question. I'll take one more question. The gentleman here. Thank you.” Stewart Russell off camera “Hi, Stuart Russell from the Government of Western Australia. I'd just like to get some indication as [inaudible]...how long will it take once you start physical decommissioning to completion?” Stephen Tetlow in vision “Thank you very much. Shall we take those two? So cost savings?” Alistair Hope in vision “Yes, so I think there's many areas where cost savings can be made. It's fair to say we've been learning and improving as we've gone along. So, as Duncan highlighted, the bulk of the costs in decommissioning are related to plugging and making safe the wells, and that's an area where there've been a lot of improvements. There's been technology improvements, there've been just improvements in terms of efficiency and understanding the task better. There's some very good oil and gas UK guidelines on how to do that now, which have been jointly developed between various operators, supply chain and the regulators. So that's improving, and that's very much the critical path through most decommissioning projects; the plugging and making safe of the wells. And whilst you're doing that, you incur running costs on the platforms. So the shorter you can make that time then the less your running costs as well as your costs in P&A of plugging the wells. So that's a big area. If you can reduce that time span, you don't have to run the platforms for as long. And then I think we'll also, as the market matures, if you look at the Gulf of Mexico, hundreds of platforms have been decommissioned there and it's now a fairly routine commodity market where the supply chain are doing a lot more, and the operators are able to step back, and there can be cost savings associated with that.” Stephen Tetlow in vision “And in terms of the period of how long it's going to take, who would like to answer that? Duncan, is that one for you?” Duncan Manning in vision “So the project was initiated in 2006, so we've been doing it for 10 years already. We've probably got another 10 years to go. It's a question of what phase are you talking about, because, initially, it's about setting up for efficient plug and make safe reservoir isolation. Then the phase of effectively focusing the platform on conducting efficient reservoir isolation, and then it's moving from that on to the engineering down phase and the final removal of the topside, or anything if you're moving subsea insulations. As Alistair said, the trick is to try and move seamlessly between each of those phases, and trying to overlap the phases where you can do so that you're maximising every bed on the platform and trying to conduct the activity as efficiently as you can do whilst at the same time looking at the scope and seeing whether you can do the scope more efficiently but also see whether you can develop new technology to allow you to do it faster, whilst at the same time learning lessons from others who are maybe in a similar position.” Shot widens slightly during his delivery Stephen Tetlow in vision Directory: sustainability sustainability -> Smart action Plan s- be Specific sustainability -> Foundations with a History of Funding Substance Abuse Programs sustainability -> Sustainable Products and Services College of Business Alliant International University sustainability -> Investment Analyses Verizon Communications, Inc sustainability -> Your Local Sustainability Resource – Livable Buckhead sustainability -> For Immediate Release: Date: December XX, 2011 sustainability -> Xanadium Sustainability Role Play Exercise (2012) sustainability -> Sustainability Program Objectives Download 134.71 Kb. 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