PetroSA is the only offshore-producing operator in South Africa. It has been grappling with significant financial challenges, leading to a looming decommissioning crisis. RESL’s challenge was accelerating the company’s decommissioning planning in uncertain viability and an untested and evolving regulatory framework.
RESL performed a five-year strategic decommissioning and well abandonment project from 2012 to 2016. The project included evaluating PetroSA’s entire offshore and onshore asset portfolio and developing 8 different Best Practical Environmental Option Assessments (BPEOA) and AACE Class 4 cost estimates for these assets:
- 1 large onshore faculties (Oil, Gas and LNG)
- 1 large platform
- 1 semi-submersible with complex subsea gathering systems and drill centres
- 8 subsea tieback systems
- 28 infield pipelines
- 2 trunklines
- 287 subsea well P&A
The work also included developing new proposed well abandonment guidelines for South Africa, where RESL’s Gated Project Phases on Legal & Regulatory Framework and Identify & Appraise Opportunity were incorporated. We also conducted workshops and training for the local team and regulators.