Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has launched a new oil and gas decommissioning Action Plan with Scottish Enterprise (SE) for the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).

With £17.6 billion estimated to be spent on decommissioning by Oil & Gas UK by 2025, the plan aims to establish Scotland as an international Centre of Excellence for decommissioning, as well as assisting the development and delivery of effective solutions for decommissioning.

The initiative is focused around six strategic objectives; information, supply chain, technology and innovation, infrastructure, skills and training and international opportunities. These will be delivered through a number of actions, including:

• Development of a Decommissioning Support Programme to provide expert advice to 50 companies

• Engagement with 150 companies to raise awareness of and stimulate demand for innovation and R&D support for decommissioning

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• Engagement with ports and onshore yards to encourage future investment opportunities

• Identifying overseas decommissioning opportunities and facilitate trade missions to/from Scotland to explore inward investment/partnership opportunities.

In the UKCS alone, 302 oil and gas installations, 373 subsea installations, 16,000km of pipelines and more than 5,000 wells will all eventually need to be decommissioned.

Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse said: "This Action Plan clarifies the range of different activities involved in decommissioning programmes, from high value offshore activity such as well plugging and abandonment, to the relatively lower value contracts for onshore disposal of jackets and superstructures.

"I am greatly encouraged by the fact that Scottish companies are already securing very significant value from a range of offshore decommissioning activities, with the majority of work being commissioned from UK contractors, and Scottish-based firms already securing the lion's share of work secured from UK suppliers. This plan will build upon that success to maximise the economic opportunity arising from this key part of the lifecycle for fields on the UKCS."

International sector head for oil and gas at Scottish Enterprise, David Rennie, added: "With around 20 billion barrels of oil and gas remaining in the UKCS, our support, very much continues to focus on prolonging the life of Scotland's oil and gas sector.

"That said, we can't ignore the significant opportunities decommissioning will bring for Scotland. This plan will help us put in place the necessary support to help Scotland's supply chain build on its existing success as well as maximise the significant opportunities in the future, both at home and overseas."

(LM/JP)