Wintershall Noordzee Starts Decommissioning in the Southern North Sea
Wintershall Noordzee B.V. (a joint venture between Gazprom EP International and Wintershall Dea) has commenced implementing a large-scale decommissioning program in the Southern North Sea.
It is expected that the first part of the program will take eighteen months ending by the Q4 of 2022. Twenty-four wells will be abandoned and two production platforms and two subsea complexes will be dismantled within the territorial waters of the Netherlands and Germany.
Wintershall Noordzee B.V. has a substantial experience in decommissioning and reusing its installations. Since the late 1980s, 58 wells have been successfully plugged and abandoned. Over the past 30+ years, the company has entirely decommissioned and dismantled 16 production platforms, seven topsides of which have been reused in the new areas of the Southern North Sea.
“Decommissioning is a logical end to the hydrocarbon production cycle. We always discharge our obligations in full and pay special attention to the final stage of field development. All decommissioning and dismantling operations will strictly observe the HSE requirements”, said Sergey Tumanov, Managing Director of Gazprom EP International.
Background
Gazprom EP International
Gazprom EP International is Gazprom Group’s upstream operator outside the Russian Federation. The company is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Today, Gazprom EP International operates in dozens of counties across three continents and is involved in approximately 20 projects of varying magnitude. The key areas of focus include managing upstream assets outside the Russian Federation; searching, evaluating, and acquiring new petroleum assets in the world's major oil and gas regions; and representing Gazprom before foreign, private and state-owned petroleum companies.
Wintershall Noordzee B.V.
With headquarters in Rijswijk, the Netherlands, Wintershall Noordzee B.V. was founded in 1965. Wintershall Noordzee B.V. is a 50:50 joint venture between Gazprom EP International and Wintershall Dea AG. Listed among the larger gas producers on the Dutch sea shelf, Wintershall Noordzee operates 15 producing offshore platforms and 4 producing subsea units in the Dutch, UK, German and Danish sectors of the North Sea.
Wintershall Dea
Wintershall Dea is Europe’s leading independent natural gas and oil company with more than 120 years of experience as an operator and project partner along the entire E&P value chain. The company with German roots and headquarters in Kassel and Hamburg efficiently and responsibly carries out petroleum exploration and production in 13 countries worldwide. With activities in Europe, Russia, Latin America and the MENA region (Middle East & North Africa), Wintershall Dea has a global upstream and midstream portfolio.