World Energy Data · Decommissioning · Regional liability

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Two forces set the decommissioning bill — and they pull opposite ways

Per identical asset the North Sea costs 25–30% more to remove (the regional multiplier). But the money is in floating production: 159 FPSOs carry $14.8B of the $17.5B modeled liability (84%), concentrated in Brazil and West-Africa deepwater — not the North Sea's cheap-to-remove fixed jackets. At portfolio level the asset mix, not the multiplier, sets the realized bill.

$17.5B
Total modeled liability (421 facilities, 5 regions)
$14.8B
FPSO share = 84% of the bill (159 units)
+30% / +25%
NCS / UKCS like-for-like premium per identical jacket vs GoM
421/836
Facilities modeled; 414 unmodeled-region excluded

Modeled liability by region × asset type

Brazil · FPSO / floating production: $4.4BBrazil · TLP: $0.1BBrazil · Fixed jacket: $0.0B$4.5Bn=58Brazil×1.1 · $78M/facUK (UKCS) · FPSO / floating production: $3.4BUK (UKCS) · Fixed jacket: $0.3BUK (UKCS) · Subsea tree: $0.0B$3.7Bn=124UK (UKCS)×1.25 · $30M/facWest Africa · FPSO / floating production: $3.4BWest Africa · TLP: $0.1BWest Africa · Fixed jacket: $0.1BWest Africa · Subsea tree: $0.0B$3.6Bn=70West Africa×1.15 · $52M/facGulf of Mexico · FPSO / floating production: $1.3BGulf of Mexico · Spar: $1.0BGulf of Mexico · TLP: $0.7BGulf of Mexico · Fixed jacket: $0.1BGulf of Mexico · Subsea tree: $0.0B$3.1Bn=87Gulf of Mexico×1 · $35M/facNorway (NCS) · FPSO / floating production: $2.3BNorway (NCS) · Spar: $0.1BNorway (NCS) · TLP: $0.1BNorway (NCS) · Fixed jacket: $0.1BNorway (NCS) · Subsea tree: $0.0B$2.6Bn=82Norway (NCS)×1.3 · $32M/fac
FPSO / floating productionSparTLPFixed jacketSubsea treeBar = total $ liability · label under bar = region multiplier & mean $/facility

Regions are ordered by total modeled liability. The stacked segments are the asset-type $ split within each region — the tall floating-production (FPSO) blocks in Brazil and West Africa, not the North Sea's higher multiplier, are what set the totals.

Multiplier vs mix. Hold the asset constant — one jacket at 100 m — and the pure regional premium is exactly the multiplier: NCS +30% and UKCS +25% over GoM. Yet the realized mean $/facility inverts that ranking — GoM $35.1M > NCS $32.2M > UKCS $29.6M — because the GoM sample carries a heavier floating-production mix than the North Sea's fixed jackets. The mix dominates the multiplier. So "the North Sea is most expensive" is true per structure and false at portfolio level.

By asset type — the money is floating

Asset typenLiabilityShare
FPSO / floating production159$14.8B84%
Spar19$1.0B6%
TLP23$1.0B6%
Fixed jacket191$0.6B3%
Subsea tree29$0.1B0%
Total421 $17.5B100%

By region — multiplier & realized mean

RegionMultnLiabilityMean/fac
Brazil×1.158$4.5B$77.8M
UK (UKCS)×1.25124$3.7B$29.6M
West Africa×1.1570$3.6B$51.9M
Gulf of Mexico×187$3.1B$35.1M
Norway (NCS)×1.382$2.6B$32.2M
Source. Curated offshore-asset inventory data/modules/offshore_assets/curated/production_facilities.csv — 836 facilities. 421 modeled across the five regions the cost model carries a multiplier for (GoM ×1.0, NCS ×1.3, UKCS ×1.25, Brazil ×1.1, West Africa ×1.15); 414 facilities in unmodeled regions are excluded (no cost factor), and the 1 Artificial Island is not a priced offshore-structure removal.
Data limits. Facilities are priced at the cost model's base + water-depth floor with weight = 0 (per-facility topside weight is not carried), so totals are conservative on the tonnage term. The FPSO base cost is model confidence "low"; because FPSOs dominate the bill, the headline total is most sensitive to that one factor. Region multipliers and asset base costs are parametric industry benchmarks, not project quotes.
Generated by scripts/decommissioning/build_regional_liability.py · logic worldenergydata.decommissioning.facility_liability · cost model worldenergydata.decommissioning.cost_model.