Challenge

Decommissioning

Yellow excavator moving soil on a construction site next to a green field.

The challenge

As assets reach the end of field life, operators face one of their most complex and costly responsibilities: safe, efficient decommissioning of wells, facilities, and pipelines. High-value resources such as rigs, vessels, and specialist crews must be carefully planned and sequenced to protect production before Cessation of Production (CoP) and to safely retire infrastructure afterwards.

Challenge

Decommissioning

The challenge

Challenge

Decommissioning

The challenge

Why it's complex

Uncertain conditions

Well integrity, pressure states, and subsurface variables are rarely fully known, making planning a moving target.

Competing constraints

Timelines, people-on-board limits, and regulatory requirements often clash, forcing difficult trade-offs.

Dynamic operations

Multiple disciplines and ongoing activities overlap, adding coordination challenges and shifting priorities.

Why it's complex

Uncertain conditions

Well integrity, pressure states, and subsurface variables are rarely fully known, making planning a moving target.

Competing constraints

Timelines, people-on-board limits, and regulatory requirements often clash, forcing difficult trade-offs.

Dynamic operations

Multiple disciplines and ongoing activities overlap, adding coordination challenges and shifting priorities.

Why it's complex

Uncertain conditions

Well integrity, pressure states, and subsurface variables are rarely fully known, making planning a moving target.

Competing constraints

Timelines, people-on-board limits, and regulatory requirements often clash, forcing difficult trade-offs.

Dynamic operations

Multiple disciplines and ongoing activities overlap, adding coordination challenges and shifting priorities.

Offshore crane lifting a large oil and gas platform module from the sea.

Network of pipelines at a gas processing facility under a blue sky.

How WhiteSpace helps

WhiteSpace applies AI-assisted scheduling and optimisation to every stage of decommissioning, from late-life production to final removal. Our tools evaluate hundreds of thousands of sequences in hours, making cost, risk, and timing trade-offs visible across wells, facilities, and pipelines.

In projects ranging from large onshore gas assets to offshore fields, this approach has helped operators start critical work earlier, reduce late-life expenditure by tens of millions, and maintain safe, efficient operations long after CoP. Dynamic scenario modelling keeps plans current as assumptions shift, giving leadership and regulators the clarity and confidence to complete decommissioning safely and at the lowest total cost.

Related solutions

Cessation of Production Strategy

Unlocking Clarity in Decommissioning Decisions

See solution

Cessation of Production Strategy

Unlocking Clarity in Decommissioning Decisions

See solution

Cessation of Production Strategy

Unlocking Clarity in Decommissioning Decisions

See solution