Oil and gas firm Taqa plans to cease production from all of its UK North Sea assets by the end of 2027.
The Abu Dhabi-owned company entered the region 16 years ago.
It operates seven installations here and will transition four of these to “cessation of production” (CoP) next year.
That is ahead of it hitting CoP for the final three – in the central North Sea – by the end of 2027, followed by downmanning and full decommissioning.
Taqa UK managing director Donald Taylor said: “Over the next five years or so we will cease production and disembark all seven of our North Sea assets.
“Next year alone, we will transition four of our platforms towards cessation of production.
“There are, however, multiple other associated activities either in planning or under way, all of which are heavily independent and constitute a plan that’s been devised, developed and been delivered by our exceptionally talented people within Taqa.”
Mr Taylor was speaking at this week’s Offshore Energies UK decommissioning conference in St Andrews.
Taqa has already decommissioned its Brae Bravo platform and upper jacket via heavy lift firm Heerema.
It also has a contract in place with heavy lift firm Allseas to remove the North Cormorant, Cormorant Alpha, Eider and Tern infrastructure post-2025.
All these northern North Sea assets are transitioning to CoP next year, Taqa said.
Plug and abandonment (P&A) campaigns are under way on North Cormorant and Cormorant Alpha, while Taqa is currently in advance planning for 52 wells to be “P&A’d”.
Central North Sea to follow
Next to be decommissioned are the central North Sea assets of Brae Alpha, which this year celebrated 40 years of production, and East Brae.
Meawhile, Taqa is collaborating with the supply chain to find an optimum solution for Harding, a three-legged structure.
Mr Taylor said Heerema had won the contract to remove the East Brae platform.
There are some stumbling blocks; for example, a question mark remains over the jacket “footings” of the Brae Bravo asset.
Over the next five years or so we will cease production and disembark all seven of our North Sea assets.”
Donald Taylor, managing director, Taqa UK
Taqa is seeking a derogation to the Ospar convention – or the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic – to allow these to be left on the seabed.
But Mr Taylor insisted Taqa will not deviate from its decommissioning plans.
He added: “Of course, we need to be nimble, and we need to be ready to accommodate any change driven by external factors.
“But we won’t deviate from our strategy, our direction of travel.
“To do so invites inefficiency, uncertainty and potentially costly delays.
“We’re already engaging with peer operators who want to learn more about our decommissioning journey.”
Taqa first entered the North Sea in 2007 through a series of deals with firms including BP and Talisman. Its UK headquarters are based in Kingswells on the outskirts of Aberdeen.
Conversation