Underwater Technology Volume 25(2)
Science of Decommissioning Special Issue

ISSN 0141 0814, Price £30

The Society for Underwater Technology is pleased to announce the publication of the second Special Issue of the SUT journal Underwater Technology.

As hydrocarbon resources begin to run out in some areas of the North Sea, production companies are beginning to turn their attention to the process of decommissioning platforms and the associated pipelines and subsea installations. This increasingly political process has been highly influenced by the OSPAR 98/3 agreement which effectively means that large amounts of oil and gas associated infrastructure in the North Sea will have to be removed upon cessation of exploitation.

The issues surrounding decommissioning are large and wide ranging. The programme will present the industry with huge engineering challenges and, along with the public exchequer, major costs. It is a process that will affect the industry and science for many decades. It is hoped that this publication goes some way to laying the foundation for some of the work ahead.

Contents

• Foreword – GB Shimmield, Director of the Scottish Association for Marine Science

• Personal View – K Forrest, Director of the International Oil and Gas Business Directorate

Papers

• Modelling the behaviour and environmental impact of cutting piles during decommissioning –
  AO Tyler, ZA Sabeur and MC Hockley

• Erosion of cutting pile sediments: a laboratory flume study – KS Black, DM Paterson and IR Davidson

• Fundamentals of drill-cutting pile formation in the sea – I Eames and D Vadnjal

• A multi-capability sensor for hydrocarbons, synthetic based fluids and heavy metals:
  applications for environmental monitoring during removal of drill cutting piles –
  D McStay, P Robertson, P Pollard, I Edwards, E Bonsen, A Al-Obaidi and D Tait

• A novel approach for the study of North Sea drill cutting accumulations – E Breuer, OC Peppe and GB Shmmield

• The occurrence of the coral Lophelia pertusa and other conspicuous epifauna around an oil platform in the North Sea – JM Roberts

• Rigs to reefs: a critical evaluation of the potential for reef development using decommissioned rigs –
  MDJ Sayer and MSP Baine

• Sampling and analysing drill cuttings – AC Skinner, D Long and GJ Tulloch

• Decommissioning pipelines and subsea equipment: legislative issues and decommissioning processes – JM Anderson