Development of Platform Selection Tool for Offshore Decommissioning in Malaysia

Decommissioning of offshore structures is not a novel issue in the oil and gas industry. Malaysia is now dealing with ageing platforms that are waiting to be decommissioned. There are several alternatives of decommissioning such as “complete removal” and conversion to artificial reefs; “partial removal”, “remote reefing” and “topple in-situ”. Given quite a list of options, the decision to undertake the best option is challenging as the current method of comparative assessment of options using Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO) did not fully cover the technical aspect from structural competency point of view. Besides, BPEO is only implemented at the end of platform‟s life. Therefore, the main goal is to develop a management decision making tool which is incorporated in the life cycle management of an oil field. A survey is conducted to solicit the verification of a group of „experts‟ on pre-identified decommissioning criteria. The criteria were ranked accordingly through calculation of Relative Importance Index (RII), and a conceptual system is developed to complement the existing asset management system. In summary, this study could benefit the knowledge of offshore decommissioning planning through prioritization of decommissioning criteria.