Image credit: Brent Decommissioning Programme.

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A new study presents a detailed bottom-up model for assessing emissions and energy demand associated with the decommissioning of offshore oil and gas infrastructure in the North Sea.

Developed by researchers from the National Decommissioning Centre and the University of Aberdeen, the emissions and energy assessment (EEA) model integrates field-specific data on operations, vessels, fuel use, weather delays, dismantling, transport and material recycling.

Drawing extensively on data and documentation from the North Sea decommissioning industry the model quantifies greenhouse gas emissions and energy demand for platform topsides and jackets.

The research, led by Dr Shahin Jalili, with Malcolm Stone and Professor Richard Neilson at the National Decommissioning Centre and Georgios Leontidis at the University of Aberdeen, was applied to decommissioning projects in the Brent and Tern fields. The results show strong agreement with existing decommissioning programme estimates, demonstrating the model’s accuracy and practical relevance.

Overall, the framework is transparent, adaptable, and expandable, helping stakeholders to better understand the environmental impacts of offshore oil and gas decommissioning and to support more informed decision-making in the context of the energy transition.

The work forms part of the Data for Net Zero (D4NZ) project, funded by the Scottish Government through the Net Zero Technology Centre.

The full paper, “Bottom-up emissions and energy assessment for decommissioning offshore platform structures in the North Sea: Brent and Tern case studies,” published in Environmental Impact Assessment Review, is available open access here – Bottom-up emissions and energy assessment for decommissioning offshore platform structures in the North Sea: Brent and Tern case studies – ScienceDirect

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