Waste Management for Offshore Decommissioning

Caroline White BP
 Agenda

• Context
• UK Decommissioning legal regime
• Topsides cleaning
• Quantification of waste
• Waste management strategy
• How we did
• Lessons learned
North West Hutton – key facts

• Steel platform installed 1981 to 1983

• Accommodation for 210 personnel
• Capacity for 130,000 barrels per day
• Ceased production 1st Jan 2003
• Topsides 20,000 tonnes
• Jacket 17,500 tonnes total (footings to
remain)
• Drill cuttings pile 40,000 tonnes (to
remain)
• Largest platform to be decommissioned
in the UK
• Commitment made to UK regulator to
recycle 97% of removed structure
Legal Regime for decommissioning waste
• Governed by the Petroleum Act 1998
• International obligations are governed by OSPAR, 1992
- all installations to be completely removed

• DECC require that a Decommissioning Programme is developed and

accepted which takes into consideration:
- Precautionary principle,
- Best available techniques and best environmental practice,
- Waste hierarchy principles,
- Health and safety law,
- Cost effectiveness etc.

• NWH Decommissioning Programme was accepted in 2005 with the following

recommendations:
- Topsides to be removed by ‘reverse installation’ and returned to shore
- Jacket to be removed down to top of the footings and returned to shore
- Drill cuttings pile should remain in place
 Topsides cleaning

• Risk based approach was applied:

- To ensure hazardous materials were certifiably removed from vessels and pipework

• BPEO assessment was carried out to identify best option for removal of liquid
and NORM wastes
• Clear set of criteria established for cleanliness:
- All surfaces clean from hazardous quantities – hydrocarbons, process chemicals, sediments,
metal scales etc.
- All free liquid removed in confined spaces
- All hazardous confined spaces removed
through achievement of specific
atmospheric conditions e.g. hydrocarbons in
air <1% Lower Explosive Limit,
- No visible sign of NORM with no instrument
reading >2X background
 Quantification of ‘waste’

Under UK waste legislation all materials being transported onshore from

NWH were considered to be ‘waste’
• Wastes were quantified using a range of available data:
- Weight reports to estimate weight of modules, based on weights at time of installation and
modifications over the platform’s lifetime
- Physical samples of residual waste e.g. hydrocarbons and NORM
- Visual inspections
- Documented data on volumes likely to be present
- Manufacturers data e.g. mercury and PCBs present
- Surveys e.g. asbestos and NORM
- Internal surface areas of pipework, vessels and systems
- ROV surveys for marine growth

• Where residual waste was identified as a coating these data were used to
estimate quantities for a range of coating thicknesses (1mm and 5mm)
throughout pipework lengths, vessels and systems
 Worst and best case estimates

Estimated quantities of residual hydrocarbons and NORM scale, based on different assumptions of
thickness of residue:

Estimated Total Weight (t) Estimated Total Activity (MBq)

1 mm scale 5 mm scale 1 mm scale 5 mm scale
Residual Hydrocarbons 5.6 21.1
NORM Scale 0.96 4.9 2.2 13.9

There was an order of magnitude difference in weight between the assumptions

Project took a precautionary approach and utilised worst case estimates

How much waste?

Estimated
Waste type Weight
(t)
Steel 28,500
Marine Growth 436
Residual hydrocarbon 20
sludge
Production chemicals 0.6
Drilling chemicals 9
NORM Scale 5
Diesel oil 0.1
Heating medium 0.5
Hydraulic oil 0.04
Lube oil 1
Seal oil 1
PCBs 0.034
Mercury 0.00034
Asbestos 5
Decommissioning waste – onshore capability?

Reviewed:
12
• The handling capacity of the facility (size
14
and weight of modules)
13
7
• Docking capacity (size, weight, depth)
16
• Optimisation of the waste hierarchy
18
• Licences and consents held by facility,
17
25 relevant to decommissioning activities
 Waste management planning
• Waste management strategy developed to ensure alignment between
BP, decommissioning contractor and onshore dismantlement and
disposal contractor. This provided:

- Detailed information on the types, quantities, locations and properties of

waste on the platform
- Detailed information on UK legal requirements
- Detailed information on process for tracking and documentation on the
transfer of waste from offshore through to final point of disposal
- Responsibilities of all parties involved in the waste chain
- Drafted waste summary sheets for the consignment of the waste

• Document was shared with the regulator to ensure they had full
understanding of the materials being transferred
 Waste Management Process Overview

HWCN = Hazardous Waste Consignment Note

CWTN = Controlled Waste Transfer Note
TFSW = Trans-Frontier Shipment of Waste (if any material destined for overseas locations)
S&P Agreement = Sale and Purchase Agreement (for items to be reused)
Offshore Removal
 Onshore Receipt and dismantling
Stage Information required Source of Information

Offshore Type of material Residual Waste Survey

Dismantling NORM Scale Survey
NW Hutton Asbestos Survey
Location (module) of material
Marine Growth Survey
Structural Weight Reconciliation
Estimated weights of material
Increasing Accuracy and Detail

Auditable Data Trail Back to Source

Deconstruction Type of material Inspection, survey and sampling of wastes upon receipt
Onshore of module onshore, prior to deconstruction
Dismantling Source(s) of each type of material
Yard within each module
Estimated weight of each type of Estimates of weights based on inspections upon receipt
material arising from module of module onshore, module specific demolition plans,
and weighing, or assessment of weight, of each waste
type removed from module during deconstruction

Location (e.g. skip number) of waste Onshore Dismantling Yard Project Waste Management
once removed from module and stored Plan
in Dismantling Yard awaiting reuse /
recovery / disposal

Final Disposal Actual weight of each waste Weighbridge data of all material leaving Dismantling
Point consignment leaving site for re-use / Yard
Third Party recycling / disposal

Confirmation of receipt of material at HWCN, CWTN or S&P Agreement, fully completed by

Final Disposal Point Onshore Dismantling and Disposal Contractor, waste
carrier (if relevant) and Final Disposal Point (Third Party)
Onshore demolition
 How did we do?

• 7,029 tonnes of the platform selected for reuse

(accommodation, module support frame, helideck etc.)

• 20,925 tonnes of the platform selected for recycling

• 473 tonnes landfilled

98.3% Reused and Recycled

1.7% Landfilled
How accurate was the waste estimation?

Difference between total waste estimated and actual weight, as

measured onshore was 2.8% (~800 tonnes):
• Over estimation of marine growth on jacket due to:
- Little documented experience on marine growth calculations for
decommissioning
- Weight calculated from ROV surveys estimated around 436 tonnes wet
weight was over estimation
- Dry weight removed and recycled was 40 tonnes
• Items not identified during surveys:
- e.g. 44 tonnes of cement filled pipework
• Utilisation of worst case residual waste estimates
 Lessons Learned and Conclusions

• Not to underestimate detailed understanding of waste required in

planning and through various project stages
• Have a clear strategy for waste quantification, removal, transportation
and onshore management, jointly agreed by all parties
• Have good document management and record maintenance through
installations lifetime, engineering down and cleaning phases
• Importance of good communications and clear expectations
- Clear understanding and communication of regulatory requirements to all
parties
- Early and ongoing engagement with regulators
• Processes employed for waste quantification and management worked
very well
Thank You