Offshore facility decommissioning attracts much more attention in the oil and gas industry today than in the past. In 2009 and 2010 TSB Offshore (formerly Proserv Offshore) completed two studies for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Offshore Energy Management (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 review these studies and other recent developments in offshore decommissioning as follows:

• 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

• Review and discuss recent changes in the regulatory environment and their likely impact.