Offshore facility decommissioning has recently begun to attract much more attention in the oil and gas industry than in the past.  Proserv Offshore has recently completed two studies for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Offshore Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (formerly the Minerals Management Service) updating the decommissioning costs for the Pacific OCS platforms and taking a first-look at decommissioning costs and issues in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.  This presentation will summarize these studies and:

• Review the decommissioning process in general,
• Review the procedures, requirements, challenges  and options available for facility decommissioning, including well P&A ,
• Discuss the costs and the major factors which influence them, and
• Discuss recent changes in the regulatory environment and their likely impact.