Author: coda

The Centre of Decommissioning Australia (CODA) has officially launched, heralding a much-needed collaborative effort to address the challenges and maximise the opportunities of decommissioning Australia’s aging oil and gas infrastructure.

In an unprecedented move, CODA brings together many of the world’s major oil and gas companies — Chevron, Woodside Energy, Santos Limited, Esso Australia Pty Ltd, Vermilion Oil and Gas Australia and BHP — as well as many leading service and research organisations such as Baker Hughes, Advisian (Worley), Atteris, Linch-Pin, AGR, Curtin University, Xodus Group and Vysus Group.

Federal Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia Keith Pitt MP today welcomed the establishment of the new decommissioning body:

“Congratulations to NERA for the establishment of the Centre of Decommissioning Australia. We all want to ensure we have a sound regulatory framework and that the offshore oil and gas industry can manage current and future decommissioning challenges.”

WA Mines and Petroleum Minister, Bill Johnston MLA, echoed Minister Pitt’s message:

“Western Australia is already a global hub for the oil and gas sector, accounting for 60 per cent of Australia’s LNG exports in 2019, and now has the potential to be a world-leading centre for decommissioning.

“Congratulations to NERA on launching this impressive initiative.”

NERA’s Chief Executive Miranda Taylor said the launch of CODA marked an important step in maximising value for the community, the environment and for Australian industry:

“We are looking at $50 billion of work over the next 50 years, so decommissioning represents a multi-generational challenge for Australia. CODA will play a critical role in transforming our approach to late life planning and decommissioning to maximise the value for Australia.”

“NERA is an expert facilitator, bringing our stakeholders together to work on collaborative solutions, like those required to reduce decommissioning costs, create opportunity for local suppliers and improve our understanding of the impact of decommissioning decisions.”

In 2020 NERA commissioned the first assessment of Australia’s offshore decommissioning liability, produced with support and involvement from oil and gas operators.
The report by Advisian, Worley’s global consulting business, concluded that there is more than $50 billion (US$40.5 billion) of necessary decommissioning work on Australia’s offshore oil and gas infrastructure, over half of which needs to be started within the next ten years.

With the study highlighting the urgency of the situation, CODA will now lead the way on supporting industry, government, the community and other stakeholders to ensure that these activities actively seek to maximise opportunities for local service and technology companies in local and regional decommissioning projects.

Chevron Director of Operations, Kory Judd, said:

“Industry has a responsibility to manage asset retirement in an environmentally responsible and efficient manner while ensuring opportunities to deliver long-term environmental and socio-economic outcomes for Australia.

By providing a focal point for collaboration, technology sharing, and local capability opportunities, CODA will enable a coordinated approach to drive positive asset retirement results for the benefit of all stakeholders.”

Woodside Senior Vice President Operations, Fiona Hick, said:

“Decommissioning will become increasingly prominent in our industry in Australia in coming years. The launch of CODA presents industry with a fantastic opportunity through which to share best practice and to further contribute to undertaking decommissioning safely and efficiently, while delivering benefits to the environment and local communities.”

Graham Gillies, VP of Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea at Baker Hughes, said:

“Decommissioning oil and gas infrastructure in a safe and responsible manner is critical for the future of the industry and for energy transition. As an energy technology company, we are excited to join the CODA network and to work closely with the oil and gas operators in Australia to carefully plan and execute decommissioning projects, leveraging our local resources and expertise in onshore and offshore environments.”

Call for Proposals

To mark today’s launch CODA has announced a call for proposals to a series of foundation projects designed to rapidly accelerate cross-industry understanding of our decommissioning challenge.
These are:

• Understanding Opportunities for Local Disposal and Recycling
• A Global Review of Decommissioning Planning and Execution Learnings
• Development of a Decommissioning Innovation and Technology Roadmap

These projects, along with other work being progressed by CODA, represent critical early-stage building blocks in delivering CODA’s objective of maximising value for Australia from decommissioning activities.

CODA’s launch is the second major announcement in as many months for NERA having just weeks ago unveiled a network of hydrogen technology clusters across the country, designed to help establish a global identity and a recognised brand for Australian hydrogen technology and expertise.

CODA has appointed six industry leaders to form the organisation’s inaugural Supervisory Committee to bring increased strategic focus and expertise to the efforts to address the challenges and opportunities of decommissioning Australia’s aging oil and gas infrastructure.

Speaking in advance of the official announcement at SEAAOC — one of Australia’s largest and longest established petroleum conferences — CODA General Manager Decommissioning and Strategy, Dr Francis Norman, said the Committee’s appointment marked a change of gear for CODA.

The support and input from a group of such experienced and engaged industry leaders will help accelerate CODA’s ability to work across the whole of Australian industry to build our domestic capability to address our own decommissioning needs, as well as position Australia to become a significant partner in the region’s decommissioning work,” he said.

The Committee, which will form the heart of CODA’s strategic focus and decision-making, consists of:

• Richard Perry — Decommissioning Manager, ExxonMobil Australia
• David Banks — Chief Technical & Marketing Officer, Santos Ltd
• Jay Southwell — APAC Subsea Services leader, Baker Hughes
• Brian Matthews — Marine, Subsea & Automation Manager, IAS Group.
• Ineke Reyboz — Contracts and Commercial Consultant (independent member)
• Harvey Johnstone — Environment Director, International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (independent member)

CODA, established in March, is uniquely positioned to drive collaboration in Australia’s oil and gas industry to collectively answer strategic questions about decommissioning options based on technical, safety and environmental knowledge. CODA’s research shows there is more than $50 billion of necessary offshore decommissioning work to be done — over half of which is anticipated to be started within the next ten years.

“By applying research from the National Decommissioning Research Initiative, we and our industry partners will ensure Australia’s future decommissioning activity will be built on independent and sound scientific research, providing the best possible outcomes for industry, environment and community,” said Dr Norman.

 

“Work’s progressing quickly to establish a secure and sustainable future for CODA built on strong, collaborative and trust-based relationships across all the parties who will play a vital role on the decommissioning journey,” he added.

Commenting on his appointment to the new Committee Richard Perry, Decommissioning Manager, ExxonMobil Australia, said: “After an extensive history of successful resource development and energy supply across Australia, our national fields are starting to reach the end of their productive life leading to the dawn of a new industry, and with it, some fantastic opportunities.”

“With the broad geographical expanse between major basins in Australia, CODA will be a crucial conduit to enable growth of this industry to be optimised for all parties throughout the supply chain and it is very exciting to be part of this journey.”

 

Baker Hughes’ Jay Southwell added: “The decommissioning era within Australia is swiftly gaining momentum, but it’s a complex subject. Strategic complexity requires an evolution in the way we share project and service information.”

“With the launch of CODA, we now have a great opportunity to collaborate, share best global practices and make a real difference to support the Australian decommissioning sector to permit the safe removal of assets without impacting the environment.”

 

CODA has been established to grow capability and capacity to service Australia’s decommissioning needs and capture work in the Asia-Pacific market that could create thousands of jobs and generate billions in economic growth for the nation.

As part of this, contracts for CODA foundation phase projects have been recently awarded. Due for delivery in early 2022, these projects will build knowledge and understanding of the local decommissioning and recycling capability, provide Australian industry with an easily accessible digest of international best practice that can be used locally, and set out a pathway for innovation and new technologies for the industry.

The projects are as follows:

• Understanding the opportunity for local disposal and recycling pathways — Advisian
• Development of a decommissioning innovation and technology roadmap — Linch-pin
• Global review of decommissioning planning and execution learnings — Advisian

These projects, along with other work being progressed by CODA, represent critical early stage building blocks in delivering CODA’s objective of maximising value for Australia from decommissioning activities.