When a subsea pipeline reaches the end of its useful life, it must be abandoned or removed. Currently, subsea pipelines are de-inventoried and purged until the hydrocarbon levels are undetectable before abandoning them in place or the pipeline is de-inventoried and purged until the hydrocarbon levels are undetectable before recovering the pipe as scrap. The common practice in both the U.S. waters and the North Sea is to abandon the pipeline in place which, for this study, was used as a baseline for comparison against other removal options currently used around the world.
The attached report presents an overview of the current U.S. and International regulations and details the safety risks, environmental risks and costs associated with the various disposal options for pipelines.
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