Decommissioning Offshore Production Facilities

Decommissioning offshore oil and gas production facilities have been progressively increasing the concern of the industry, government and other interest groups through the last years. There are at least two reasons for this sudden regard. First, it is the maturing of several oil and gas fields around the world in recent years. Second, it is the growing impact of environmental concerns in international affairs. Despite several works published address to some techniques and to potential problems and risks related to decommissioning offshore oil and gas production installations its procedures are in some extent an innovative issue, especially in Brazil. Therefore, the motivation of this paper is the novelty of the subject in Brazil, since the national industry is just beginning to deal with the end-of-leasing obligations, which involve decommissioning operations. The main ambition is to stimulate debate about appropriate issues.