Offshore decommissioning and asset retirement present significant logistical, regulatory, safety, fiscal and reputational challenges. The process of dismantling large structures and, for example, recovering topsides and jackets for reuse, recycling or disposal requires precise coordination, stringent compliance and thorough documentation. Traditional paper-based tracking systems often fall short in meeting these demands, leading to inefficiencies, compliance risks, safety hazards and cost overruns.
MODS Connect Completions has been successfully used in the decommissioning of the Hewett Gas Field, concluding nearly 60 years of productive use.
Implementing digital completions solutions, decommissioning teams can enhance recordkeeping and reporting, streamline asset tracking, mitigate high-risk work scopes and improve cost and schedule predictability. These solutions provide real-time data, reliable documentation and enhanced visibility, ensuring that decommissioning projects are executed efficiently, safely, quality assured and in compliance with industry standards.
Strict adherence to local and international regulations—such as environmental impact assessments and hazardous material disposal protocols—is a cornerstone of offshore decommissioning. Non-compliance can lead to costly legal consequences, delays, and reputational damage.
Legacy systems often lack real-time tracking capabilities, making it difficult to keep regulatory bodies up to speed and ensure compliance at every stage. Digital completions solutions such as MODS Connect Completions bridge this gap by automating documentation, tracking every step of the complete and handover phases and providing instant audit trails. This ensures that every decommissioning step aligns with industry standards and best, reducing legal and financial risks.
The decommissioning process involves managing and documenting numerous components that may be repurposed, sold or safely disposed of. Manual tracking often leads to missing records, mismanagement and inefficiencies, all of which can and do delay project progress, at a cost.
With digital completions software, every dismantled component is systematically documented and logged, ensuring full traceability from dismantling to final disposal. This eliminates the risk of lost records, enhances decision-making and streamlines handovers.
Managing weight is crucial in offshore decommissioning. As structural components are dismantled, lift and barge contractors require precise guide weights to safely remove and transport segments. Failure to track weight properly can lead to structural instability, unsafe lifting operations, and logistical bottlenecks.
Digital completions solutions play a key role in monitoring weights of removed structures and components. This ensures that weight data remains accurate and up to date, minimizing risks associated with logistics and efficiencies around transportation and disposal.
Decommissioning projects involve hazardous work, from dismantling high-risk structures to handling hazardous materials. Ensuring a Safety-First culture is non-negotiable, and digital completions solutions enhance safety by providing visible-to-all, up-to-date project status.
Inspection Test Records (or “ITRs”) can be digitally catalogued by tag, by milestone and by system. Ensuring thorough records are attached to both the mechanically complete and system handover milestones, lends quality and confidence to the integrity and safety of any commissioning process. This, inherently, helps keep workers safe. Visible SIMOPS for integrated work front management and other digital features ensure full visibility, traceability and accountability, improving productivity by up to 70 percent and keeping people safe.
This digital approach reduces human error, prevents accidents and ensures that safety is rigorously enforced throughout the completions phase.
Unforeseen issues—such as undocumented modifications or undisclosed hazardous materials—can cause massive delays and cost overruns in decommissioning projects. Without digital tracking, project teams lack visibility into real-time conditions, making it difficult to adjust forecasts and schedules effectively.
Digital completions solutions provide accurate forecasting by:
By integrating digital completions, companies can mitigate unexpected challenges, control costs, and keep projects on schedule.
Completions certifications verify the successful execution of decommissioning activities, ensuring that work is done to the highest safety and quality standards. Traditionally associated with construction, these certifications are equally critical in deconstruction, ensuring that every task—whether isolating systems, dismantling structures, or handling hazardous materials—is properly documented and performed to standard.
With digital solutions such as MODS Connect Completions, certifications are automatically generated and securely stored, providing a seamless, auditable record of work completed that is easily handed over in a tidy, efficient, paperless manner. This eliminates human errors associated with paperwork, speeds up approvals, and ensures that every step meets, client, regulatory and industry standards.
The integration of digital completions software such as MODS Connect Completions delivers a range of benefits, including:
Offshore decommissioning projects require visibility, quality and efficiency. The sheer complexity of environmental, safety and logistical considerations makes digital completions solutions such as MODS Connect Completions indispensable for successful decommissioning project execution.
By integrating automated certification processes, efficient documentation and other valuable features such as weight control, project teams can streamline workflows, minimize risks and improve overall project outcomes (including the bottom line!). As the energy and broader industrial sector advances digital transformation, adopting these solutions is no longer an option—it’s a necessity for safer, more efficient and cost-effective decommissioning.