Turning a decommissioning liability into a green revenue stream

OBJECTIVE

With a diverse and complex decommissioning pipeline, including large assets in various stages of their lifetime, our Client sought our expertise for ideation and rapid validation of options.

SOLUTIONS

As a Proof of Value engagement, we assessed one of their offshore assets, aiming to uncover repurposing opportunities that could be meaningfully pursued. Through wide ideation, rapid validation and ruthlessly looking for a better option, we found a winning idea; a large commercial seaweed farm.

This idea was likely to be successful due to the natural presence of certain seaweed species in the area. This would likely make environmental approvals more likely, and any farm more likely to be successful. The juxtaposition of habitat maps, emerging aquaculture opportunities, and gas infrastructure reveals the extensive reach of our opportunity-seeking efforts.

Other potentially successful ideas were found in tourism, defence, ocean plastic credits, renewable fuels and health research. 

Opting to focus on the seaweed farm opportunity, we shifted to actionable strategy, performing an extensive deep dive into research and validation conversations with industry experts. We produced an idea thesis, idea repository and a high level business case for an idea that would generate significant revenue, reduce the liability of a deteriorating asset and also have a positive impact on the environment.

OUTCOMES

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  Decommissioning opportunity with the potential to defer or eliminate hundreds of millions in decommissioning expense.
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  High level validation of the viability of an offshore seaweed farm for an asset that was thought to be impossible to repurpose.
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  Full alignment with ESG strategy by leaving a local community with a new industry, generating carbon credits and lowered decommissioning liability.
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  Demonstration of substantial potential revenue generation from an innovative new venture, including opportunities to turn the by-products into an additional revenue stream and potential to generate carbon credits (Emission Reduction Units).
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  Potential external investment identified, with a number of interested parties willing to become commercial partners.