THE chief executive of the new Oil & Gas Technology Centre, Colette Cohen, has said it can help ensure billions of additional barrels are produced from the North Sea by ending the problem of discoveries being left in limbo.
Noting around three billion barrels are held in small pools that firms have no plans to develop, Ms Cohen said her target was to ensure no resources are left stranded by 2025.
“We have to find the technology and the commercial models to ensure those fields are developed,” said Ms Cohen, ahead of the official launch of the Aberdeen-based OGTC today.
A former head of Centrica’s North Sea business, Ms Cohen reckons the centre can play a vital role in the North Sea by ensuring firms harness the potential of technology to maximise the recovery of oil and gas from the area.
Small pools will be a key area of focus for the £180 million centre, which has been established with government backing to help the industry respond to the challenges posed by the crude price slump.
The centre aims to work with industry and universities to help develop technologies that can improve efficiency and productivity in the North Sea and help anchor the supply chain in the North East.
This could involve developing technologies that make it cheaper to develop and run small fields.
Ms Cohen noted the centre will also focus on work connected with ensuring North Sea assets are in good shape, on their eventual decommissioning and on the application of digital technology.
“The whole digital space is a massive opportunity,” said Ms Cohen who reckons the industry has lots to do to make the most of the kind of technologies that many people are already using in their homes.
OGTC has agreed to establish a multi-million pound joint venture with Aberdeen and Robert Gordon universities to develop a Centre of Excellence for Field Life Extension and Decommissioning in the Granite City.
Ms Cohen has been delighted by the response the centre has had so far from business and academia.
“We have had the opportunity to start projects with industry that perhaps we would not have expected to start,” she said, highlighting work on corrosion, well solutions and the landscaping of small pools.
The centre will participate in a field trial this year which it reckons could result in a step change in the way redundant wells are plugged and abandoned that could save hundreds of millions of pounds.
Funded under the £250 million Aberdeen City Region Deal, OGTC’s targets include helping to cut the cost of wells and of asset integrity work by 50 per cent.
In addition to generating cost savings and increasing efficiency in the North Sea, Ms Cohen believes OGTC will help firms grow exports. She wants it to win international recognition as an international centre of excellence.
“We have a unique opportunity to create a culture of innovation in the UK North Sea. This is our moment. We must be brave and seize the opportunity,” she said.
Montrose Port Authority yesterday highlighted the opportunities it thinks will be created by the expected surge in decommissioning activity in the North Sea.
Chief executive Nik Scott-Gray noted aspirations to improve transport links to the port feature in the bid for a Tay Cities Deal.
“Oil and gas decommissioning is going to become a major economic activity over the coming years and Montrose port is well placed to serve this need,” he said. “Strategic support for such work would be extremely beneficial and help create new jobs in this part of Angus and beyond.”
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