Robert Gordon University Introduces Decommissioning Simulator in UK

Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University (RGU) has launched a decommissioning simulator to service the growing sector.

RGU, in collaboration with funding partners The Oil and Gas Technology Centre, KCA Deutag and Drilling Systems, with technical support from Baker Hughes, a GE Company (BHGE), has established the simulator to focus on well-plugging and abandonment (P&A).

P&A is an area which is forecast to cost the UK more than £8 billion over the next decade, with around 2,500 wells expected to be decommissioned across the UK, Danish, Dutch and Norwegian Continental Shelves.

The simulator can support both oil and gas operators and service companies with the planning and preparation for well P&A.

Professor Paul de Leeuw, director of RGU’s Oil and Gas Institute, said: “By providing this facility at RGU to simulate well decommissioning, we will ultimately be able to enhance safety and reduce the cost of well P&A.

“Operators and drilling contractors will be able to use the simulator to develop the technical and non-technical skills and capabilities of their rig crews for decommissioning wells, while improving team performance.”