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Journal of Australian Energy Producers
RESEARCH ARTICLE (Non peer reviewed)

Shaping the decommissioning landscape of tomorrow

Andrew Taylor
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National Energy Resources Australia, 26 Dick Perry Avenue, Kensington, WA 6151, Australia. Email: andrew.taylor@nera.org.au

The APPEA Journal 60(2) 537-539 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ19029
Accepted: 28 February 2020   Published: 15 May 2020

Abstract

Associated with the growth of Australia’s oil and gas industry over the past 40 years, our oceans currently host oil and gas production and transportation infrastructure that will cost ~AU$30 billion to decommission. National Energy Resources Australia (NERA) is one of six industry growth centres (IGC) funded by the Australian Government. NERA is investigating opportunities for transforming the way that Australia manages its upcoming decommissioning activities. In 2019, NERA undertook a series of stakeholder consultations to refresh our understanding of Australia’s decommissioning outlook. Feedback was received through more than 20 interviews and follow-up surveys with the service sector, operators, research organisations, regulators and consultants. This paper highlights the outcomes of this review and NERA’s view on opportunities to position Australia favourably to manage decommissioning in a way that maximises benefits.

Keywords: collaboration, efficiency, innovation, technology.

Andrew Taylor is the decommissioning lead for NERA (National Energy Resources Australia), the Australian Government’s Industry Growth Centre tasked with transforming the energy sector. He has spent 15 years working across mining and petroleum industries, including within policy and regulatory functions of the WA Government. Prior to NERA, Andrew was the secretariat for the HSE and decommissioning committees of APPEA, a position he left to establish the National Decommissioning Research Initiative under NERA. Outside of decommissioning, Andrew is a co-owner of a winery in the Great Southern region of Western Australia.


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