Decommissioning risks under the spotlight

Andreas Dracoulis and Maren Strandevold, at Haynes and Boone CDG, report on some of the risks facing the decommissioning sector

Progress in the decommissioning of offshore oil and gas fields is, on a global scale, still very much in its infancy. It will, however, become a growing area of work considering the large number of offshore facilities around the world that will come to the end of their operating life in the near future. This article seeks to highlight some of the challenges and risk areas, from a legal context, that can arise in overseas decommissioning projects.