An evidence-based approach for the effects of decommissioning options on Marine Protected Area conservation and ecosystem services (DECOM-MPA).

3ca166f2-3aa9-4b32-a160-630cbe49029d

Closed

NERC
NERC
NERC
NERC
NERC

£851,380

Feb. 1, 2017

Jan. 31, 2018

Project Description:
DECOM-MPA will develop a Decision Support Document (DSD) and strengthen the evidence base to support decision making for decommissioning oil and gas infrastructure on the qualifying features and integrity of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The DSD will meet the current requirements of the regulatory regime, but provide flexibility to evolve in response to changing regulations. Stakeholders as partners is considered essential to a successful project and significantly increases the likelihood that outputs will be applied to real-world decision-making.

Objectives:
(1) To develop a user-friendly DSD to facilitate decision-making for understanding the impacts (positive and negative) of decommissioning operations on the condition of MPA qualifying features and site integrity;
(2) To gather and assess (providing confidence scores) the best available scientific evidence to underpin the assessment of impacts of decommissioning options on major marine habitats and species, including taking an innovative natural capital focus;
(3) To engage end-users (incl. industry, industry bodies, SNCBs, regulators & academia) throughout the project to provide proof of concept, identify sources of evidence and provide case studies;
(4) To assess potential short and long-term impacts of decommissioning options on MPA qualifying features and site integrity using industry-led case study examples from the North Norfolk Sandbanks and Saturn Reefs cSAC/SCI, and
(5) To provide end-users with an innovative and user-friendly evidence-based approach to better understand the risks, opportunities and impacts of decommissioning on MPAs and the wider marine environment.

Impacts:
Although it is unlikely that the full impacts of DECOM-MPA will be measurable within the project timescale, expected impacts will provide the best combination of:

Environmental benefits:
- maintained or enhanced MPA integrity;
- reduced impact on marine ecosystems;
- maximisation of ecosystem service provision;
- improved scientific evidence base to support sustainable decommissioning (as well as renewable energy and other construction activities within MPAs).
Economic benefits:
- support a transparent decision process, decreasing the likelihood of challenging the method selection and reducing associated additional time and cost of regulatory reviews of decommissioning programmes;
- early insights into risks and opportunities presented by decommissioning operations;
- strengthened links with academia to influence the future research agenda to deliver industry-relevant knowledge, and
- enhancing transferability potential of decision support products to other areas.
Societal benefits:
- enhanced sustainability and societal acceptability of selected decommissioning options;
- translating existing knowledge to make it useable and accessible to users;
- improved knowledge gained through research (cognitive benefits);
- identifying unrealised benefits from decommissioning options within and out with MPAs;
- identified knowledge gaps improving efficiency of public research spending, and
- enhanced reputation by exporting UK scientific excellence to inform global decommissioning solutions.

Keywords: Decision Support Document, stakeholders, Marine Protected Areas, decommissioning, oil & gas, evidence, assessment, case studies

Key Stakeholders: BEIS, JNCC, NE, SNH, Oil and Gas Industry, Oil and Gas Industry Representatives, Marine Scotland, MMO

Potential Impact:
Several stakeholders will benefit through the adoption and shared use of the Decision Support Document (DSD). The underlying scientific evidence base to support the procedures outlined in the DSD is required by statutory bodies, other organisations such as NGOs and industry. DECOM-MPA will adopt a natural capital focus to the work that will summarise the environmental information in terms of how marine systems can be viewed as 'natural assets' that provide ecosystem services to other stakeholders and society. This approach will help identify common units and metrics for assessing the effects of decommissioning scenarios on natural assets, and thus ecosystem service delivery potential. Smart decommissioning solutions are likely to provide a range of additional goods and benefits to other stakeholders in other sectors (e.g. coastal flooding attenuation, recreation opportunities). Potential business benefits to the oil and gas industry will be assessed (e.g. operational cost savings, job creation) for adopting a new approach to sustainable decommissioning.

Use by JNCC and the SNCBs will facilitate proportionate, risk-based, objective and evidence-based decision-making that will improve advice on how decommissioning can affect protected features within MPAs (e.g. Marine Conservation Zones and Special Areas of Conservation) and site integrity of MPAs. The inclusion of far-field interactions in the assessment will also assist the JNCC, SNCBs and BEIS in understanding the interaction between decommissioning projects and nearby sites. The advice generated by the SNCBs is ultimately provided to BEIS as the industrial regulator. This will enable effective delivery of advice for strategic decommissioning that provides the best environmental outcomes for MPAs and also economic benefits for industry and wider society.

The use of the outputs by the O&G industry aids the identification of the decommissioning option with least environmental impact, and can be used both at a project level to understand individual decommissioning situations and at a plan level when considering wider scale works. This provides clear and objective directions for industry that are aligned with the considerations undertaken by BEIS (as the regulator) and its consultees. The early and independent alignment between both parties will increase the focus and speed of the decommissioning decision-making process, reduce delays and lessen the uncertainty while decreasing the risks posed to industry and the environment. The project outcomes will thus provide support to the wider mandatory comparative assessment of decommissioning options as required by BEIS.

For the public perception of the decommissioning process, the alignment of industrial and regulatory considerations via the shared use of the DSD, will indicate a more harmonious process of shared knowledge and aspirations. This will be influential in reducing the fears of stakeholders concerned with the timely delivery of a safe and environmentally sympathetic decommissioning process.

Much of the evidence and considerations built into the DSD will be relevant for other offshore industries that have deployed concrete and steel structures, including offshore wind which has expanded greatly in recent years. It will provide clear and early guidance on the preferred approaches to decommissioning, thereby allowing industry to plan the deployment and operation of these structures accordingly causing the least impact to the qualifying features and site integrity of MPAs. The project outcomes will influence management decisions regarding shoreline management, integrated coastal management, marine spatial planning, Strategic Environmental Assessment and related adaptive strategies.