Offshore staff
FORNEBU, Norway – Aker Solutions and AF Gruppen have signed a letter of intent to merge their offshore decommissioning operations into a jointly owned company.
Kjetel Digre, CEO of Aker Solutions, said: “The company will be uniquely positioned to offer integrated end-to-end services from well plug and abandonment to planning, removal, dismantling, and recycling at its own environmental base…and we see increased activity in the market for decommissioning and recycling moving forward…
“The two parties have complementary strengths and capabilities, with potential to build a global offshore recycling powerhouse.”
The main goal is to recycle as large a percentage as possible of materials from decommissioned offshore platforms. AF Offshore Decom claims to have achieved a source separation rate of 94% for the structures for recycling, where the main component is metal.
According to Aker Solutions, there are around 10,000 operational platforms worldwide. Across the North Sea it claims that more than 900,000 metric tons (992,080 tons) of top deck are set for removal between 2020 and 2029.
The two companies bring capabilities in managing large-scale offshore projects and lifecycle competence. The joint company will have an order backlog of close to NOK2.5 billion ($290 million).
The transaction should go through later this year, subject to due diligence and regulatory approvals by the Norwegian Competition Authorities.
07/01/2021
