Maersk Drilling, Maersk Supply Service establish joint venture decommissioning company
A 50:50 joint venture (JV) between Maersk Drilling and Maersk Supply Service will leverage the companies’ heritage of over 50 years of safe and efficient operations to provide decommissioning services to oil and gas operators.
After decades of production, an increasing amount of offshore oil and gas fields are approaching the end of their economic life. In the North Sea alone, more than 400 fields are expected to cease production by 2026, at an estimated cost of $56 billion. Globally, over 700 fields are expected to require decommissioning.
Drawing on Maersk Drilling and Maersk Supply Service’s assets and technical capabilities, the JV will initially offer bundled solutions for up to 80% of the process required in decommissioning an oil field. The bundled solutions will, in addition to project management, cover work scopes such as plug and abandonment (P&A) of wells, towage of floating units and removal of subsea infrastructure. In the longer term, the JV plans to provide the full end-to-end process of decommissioning.
“With the growing need for decommissioning mature fields, governments and oil and gas operators are looking for experienced partners to manage and perform this challenging task. By leveraging the strong track record of the two companies, as well as our complementary asset base and competencies, we can lower the risk and reduce the overall cost for the customers,” Jørn Madsen, CEO of Maersk Drilling, said.
Maersk Drilling and Maersk Supply Service have both done decommissioning work for various clients. Since 2016, Maersk Supply Service has been project managing and executing the full scope of decommissioning services for the Janice, James and Leadon subsea fields in the UK North Sea for the operator – formerly Maersk Oil, now Total. While Maersk Drilling did the P&A for the James and Leadon wells, Maersk Supply Service provided the marine asset coverage on all three subsea fields and took on the responsibility for the engineering, subcontractor management, offshore planning, interface management and associated logistics, as well as the disposal of recovered facilities from the seabed through management of waste disposal contractors.
“By combining our marine knowledge and experience from recent decommissioning projects, we can provide oil and gas operators bundled solutions with one point of contact for the majority of decommissioning work scope. With the experience and asset base brought to the JV by both companies, and the team to see it through, I am confident that the decommissioning JV can offer attractive and flexible solutions to the market,” Steen S. Karstensen, CEO of Maersk Supply Service, said.
Maersk Drilling and Maersk Supply Service will invest an equal amount in the JV over the coming year. The joint investment is approximately $20 million covering the first years of operations. In addition, the JV partners will provide assets to the JV through standard commercial conditions. With the projection of adding up to three new projects per year after 2020, the JV’s revenue is expected to grow steadily over the first five years.
