Decommissioning, Arctic opportunities tailor-made for Dutch contractors

IRO’s Managing Director Hans de Boer.“The second part of last year in particular brought a slowdown in activity for our members,” admits Hans de Boer, managing director of Dutch oil and gas suppliers association IRO. “For some, on the other hand, 2009 was the best year in their history, although that was related to projects awarded in 2007-08.”

“I believe we’re now past the lowest point worldwide, although not in the Netherlands. But I am optimistic – I see things picking up after summer and into the New Year.”

Even the oil spill saga in the Gulf of Mexico had a positive angle, with Dockwise sending a vessel to assist in the clean-up effort; Boskalis providing a dredger to create sand berms on the coast to protect the local environment; and Koseq, another Dutch company supplying oil-sweeping arms for attachment to another relief vessel.

IRO represents companies engaged in all types of offshore and onshore engineering, and others from outside the industry seeking new business opportunities. Membership has grown steadily, year-on-year, recently standing at 390.

Over the past year, the association has established an informal working group focusing on decommissioning, with 15 Dutch companies currently participating. Recently, IRO teamed up with Decom North Sea, a new initiative in the UK intended to foster collaboration and knowledge transfer between operators of offshore facilities facing abandonment, and contractors and suppliers with relevant specialist skills.

IRO has agreed to act as Decom’s representative in the Dutch sector. “We see North Sea decommissioning as a very interesting market for our members, with a multi-billion Euro potential,” explains de Boer.

In April, IRO organized a presentation for its members at which Heerema outlined its scope of work last year in removing BP’s North West Hutton platform in the UK North Sea and its upcoming platform decommissioning program for ConocoPhillips Norge on the Ekofisk field. Allseas provided an update on its new decommissioning/construction vesselPieter Schelte, recently contracted to DSME in South Korea.

COVER PHOTO: BP Valhall platform deck sailing out from Heerema Zwijndrecht.

Among the association’s longer-established working groups is the Committee on Technical and Regulatory Affairs. One emerging concern is new legislation from the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works, and Waste Management, approved in February, which is intended to safeguard marine life against “noise pollution at sea” generated by offshore piling operations.

As a result, piling on the Dutch shelf is now permitted only between July and the end of December, outside the breeding season. Effectively, however, as de Boer points out, weather conditions in the North Sea only leave a three-month window between July and September. Among the Dutch companies most affected by the rule are installation contractor Seaway Heavy Lifting and piling specialist IHC Hydrohammer The legislation will mainly impact the pace of offshore wind turbine installations, and to a lesser extent piling of oil and gas platforms, although at present not many of these are scheduled, with Dutch field development activity fairly quiet.

Petro-Canada, one of the few operators of offshore oil facilities on the Dutch shelf, recently agreed to sell its entire range of interests to Aberdeen-based Dana Petroleum. Otherwise there have been no other significant North Sea asset transfers to stimulate new activity. IRO and the Dutch operators association Nogepa have held discussions over the years with the Ministry of Economic Affairs about ways of easing the country’s offshore taxation regime. But talks are presently suspended, with the Netherlands’ spring election failing to deliver a coalition government.

On the mainland, a new LNG reception terminal, operated by state-owned gas distributor Gasunie and Vopak, is under construction in Rotterdam and scheduled to open next year. Due to falling worldwide gas demand, however, three other planned Dutch LNG projects may be shelved, de Boer says, including TAQA’s proposed terminal offshore Rotterdam.

At ONS Stavanger in late August, 26 Dutch companies will have booths in the 620-sq m (6,673-sq ft) IRO pavilion, with seven others sharing a combined IRO stand. Although the Scandinavian offshore market has traditionally proven difficult for outsiders to break into, interest remains keen, with numerous would-be Dutch exhibitors “locked out” of ONS due to space.

One of the main areas of interest is field development in the Norwegian Barents Sea. Last September, IRO took a group of interested companies to Norway under a trade mission, focussing on Arctic opportunities. Meetings were arranged with Statoil and two of the leading contractors in this region, Aker Solutions and Technip.

In June, representatives of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Gasunie, and Gazprom signed a strategic cooperation agreement known as the Foundation Project Delta Group. The aim is to promote collaboration in energy sector projects, including infrastructure development for fields on the Russian Arctic shelf. Although IRO has no direct involvement, says de Boer, “what it definitely confirms is that Gasunie has a good relationship with Gazprom. That could help our members in future.” The links were recently strengthened when Gasunie CEO Marcel Kramer left to take up a similar role for Gazprom as head of the South Stream pipeline project, which will move Russian gas to southern Europe via the Black Sea.

Earlier this year, IRO led further missions to Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Another is planned to Aberdeen this September, the program here being coordinated with the Netherlands/British Chamber of Commerce and the North Scotland Industries Group.