The 10th NPF North Sea Decommissioning Conference 2010

It is my great pleasure, on behalf of the Norwegian Petroleum Society, to invite you to the 10th Annual Decommissioning Conference.

This is a significant occasion as I know of no other Annual Decommissioning Conferencewhich has achieved its tenth gathering.

Despite the worldwide financial situation and the ability of Oil & Gas companies to find ways of delaying production cessation there remains a steady flow of decommissioning activity which is reflected in the quality and quantity of papers which we are able to attract and present.

This conference, with its first class venue, is recognised by industry as the premier decommissioning event so every year we strive to accommodate the increased demand for delegate places. Even so we still seek to encourage the attendance of senior representatives of oil companies, operating oil /gas fields close to Cessation of Production, as we intend to start to answer:-

”What the remedies are to limit your company’s decommissioning liabilities”

Specifically, this year’s programme will reflect on the past decade of decommissioning through the medium of this conference. In addition the conference will address:

• Legislation, Project Planning, Cost Drivers, HSE
• 2009 Executed Projects
• Outlook on future projects
• Discussions on major topics (breakout sessions)

In producing the varied and informative agenda we have considered the feedback from our long standing delegates by attending to their comments and suggestions.

To this end the conference programme again contains a balance of the ongoing (updates of current decommissioning projects), the new (addressing future anticipated projects) and the developments in technology and regulation.

Contributions include a progress review of all the current projects from operators, offshore contractors and disposal yards.

We will not only demonstrate how the feedback from the 2009 Breakout discussions has been used by the Industry Work Group but have introduced two breakout themes to afford more opportunity for such useful interaction.

The conference will also discuss developments in Nuclear Decommissioning and the use of rope access as an aid to cost reduction. For those able to arrive early an extremely interesting talk on climbing the Great Trango Tower, the highest rockface on earth, has been arranged as an option for the evening of Monday 15^thFebruary.

We will again look beyond the North Sea to get a measure of decommissioning activity in SE Asia.

As ever the larger, more diverse, Organising Committee has worked to produce an interesting and relevant programme which, when presented in the exceptional facilities of the Solstrand Hotel, will produce an informative and effective conference.

We look forward to seeing you there in February.

Regards
Geoff Tilling
chair, conference committee