Operators decommission older offshore oil and gas fields for a variety of reasons: regulations and business models change, technology improves, field productivity ceases.
In many cases, the existing pipeline network around these platforms is repurposed or reconfigured to suit current needs. New production wells can be tied in to the existing network, and unproductive assets can be bypassed and decommissioned. Although the platforms are most often specific in purpose, the pipelines are generalists by nature. Prolonging the life of this type of asset is almost always profitable.
This paper describes how in-line isolation technology kept production loss to a minimum during offshore platform decommissioning and the tie-in of a reused pipeline into a new facility.
