Offshore staff
ABERDEEN, UK -- Analysts at Deloitte’s welcome proposals to widen access to the UK’s offshore production infrastructure, which were announced last week by the UK’s new coalition government.
Carl Hughes, head of Deloitte's energy, infrastructure, and utilities practice, said: “We note … that the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) may include measures in the forthcoming Energy Bill to ensure North Sea infrastructure would be available to all companies to ease the exploitation of smaller and more difficult oil and gas fields. We welcome this and would positively encourage the development of legislation in this area…
“The widest possible access to that infrastructure is critical if the UK is to maximize the value and recovery of its indigenous oil and gas reserves and ensure that smaller and more difficult accumulations of hydrocarbons are not left stranded offshore.”
Hughes added: “In order to prolong the life of the North Sea and to maximize the recovery of reserves, the current voluntary infrastructure code of practice (ICOP) needs to be reviewed. Consideration could potentially be given to compulsory arbitration, with a fixed timetable to encourage wider and faster access to both ageing and new infrastructure.
“In addition thought needs to be given to the extent to which infrastructure owners are required to operate and maintain that infrastructure well beyond the lives of the fields to which it originally related. Incentives to encourage the sale and purchase of infrastructure provided through the North Sea oil and gas tax regime could facilitate this process.”
06/01/2010
