The Way Ahead for Decommissioning

In the North Sea and beyond, offshore decommissioning is facing challenging times. Sector body
Decom Mission has said it expects 2026 to be another tough year for the supply chain before activity
picks up in 2027. In difficult times with tightening budgets, increasing regulation and greater
environmental scrutiny, the decommissioning sector must find smarter ways to advance projects.

For decades, decommissioning campaigns have followed a fragmented model, separating industrial
cleaning, waste management, and NORM (Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material) decontamination
into distinct work scopes. In today’s industry, where cost and operational efficiency are critical, this
siloed approach is no longer sustainable. Integration is the smart solution.

“Smarter decommissioning” means combining processes, eliminating duplication, and empowering
collaboration. It’s about saving time, reducing risk and ensuring a measurable reduction in
environmental impact.

The Challenge: Complexity and Cost

Decommissioning projects are among the most complex in the offshore industry. Each day, offshore
costs millions in operational expenditure.

Traditionally, multiple contractors handle separate work scopes: one for vessel cleaning, another for
waste removal and another for NORM decontamination. Each project creates additional
administrative touch points and increases the potential risk exposure. Every confined space entry is a
hazard, and every project delay is an expense.

Onshore decontamination has long been the standard process. But transferring contaminated waste
and equipment onshore creates additional financial, logistical and environmental challenges.
However, onshore decontamination has been popular because UK NORM-related legislation, such as
the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 (IRR17) and Transfrontier Shipment of Radioactive Waste
and Spent Fuel Regulations 2019, are not universally understood. The lack of regulation awareness
has helped maintain an inefficient status quo.

In today’s climate of tighter margins, greater accountability and safer disposal, inefficiency isn’t an
option.

One Solution for Multiple Tasks

As an answer to these problems, Sureclean has developed an integrated approach that combines
industrial cleaning, waste management, and NORM decontamination under one team, one
mobilisation, and one methodology.

By combining these work scopes, Sureclean delivers a streamlined, single-source solution that
changes how operators and contractors manage decommissioning. This integrated approach
removes offline delays between cleaning and disposal phases, ensures continuity in safety systems
and asset knowledge, and significantly reduces offshore time.

The benefits include:

• One team, one trip: eliminates the cost of secondary mobilisations and contractor overlap
• Non-intrusive cleaning and waste removal: minimises vessel entry and associated risks
• Single source of continuous oversight: maintains knowledge of the asset from project start to
• finish
• Regulatory compliance assurance: reduces the risk of non-compliance gaps between
• contractors and improves waste traceability
• Sustainability benefits: Fewer offshore trips reduce emissions

Sureclean’s integrated solution makes decommissioning safer, cleaner, faster, and more cost-efficient.

Setting the Benchmark for Offshore Waste Removal

Sureclean’s smart decommissioning process is enabling major operators and heavy lift contractors to
achieve their KPIs.

The company’s integrated solution has been successfully deployed by a major offshore operator on
several North Sea assets. As part of a large-scale decommissioning program, the operator required
waste removal and NORM decontamination services for multiple offshore assets – the largest waste
removal contract in the North Sea.

A critical requirement was the non-intrusive removal of waste from numerous process vessels and
caissons. The operator needed a partner that could deliver a proven and safe solution while
maintaining efficiency and cost control.

Using customised equipment designed and manufactured at its facilities in Oldmeldrum,
Aberdeenshire, Sureclean successfully removed waste through existing drains without manual entry.

Over 80% of vessels were cleaned non-intrusively, and the project was completed ahead of schedule,
delivering significant cost savings and additional value to the operator through diesel recovery and
resale credits. Sureclean has also supported FPSO life extension and maintenance programmes by providing
integrated solutions that reduce duplication, accelerate delivery, and ensure environmental
compliance.

A growing reputation for performance excellence and efficiency is why specialist facilities
management and engineering firms are increasingly turning to Sureclean as their trusted partner for
the specialist cleaning element of project tenders.

Beyond Compliance: Towards Smarter Decommissioning

Smarter decommissioning will rely on collaboration, integration, and sustainability. Offshore
operations are under growing pressure to demonstrate environmental responsibility, reduce
emissions, and eliminate unnecessary waste transfers.

Sureclean’s integrated offshore cleaning and waste management solution supports the energy
transition due to:

• Fewer mobilisations reduce emissions and vessel fuel use
• Offshore decontamination prevents cross-border waste movement and repatriation issues
• Full traceability ensures regulatory compliance
• Data-led decision-making empowers operators to quantify performance

Regulatory changes, including the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 (IRR17) and Transfrontier
Shipment of Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel Regulations 2019, create new opportunities for
offshore NORM management. These regulations no longer mandate the repatriation of UK-generated
NORM waste, enabling more efficient and cost-effective offshore decontamination.

But smarter decommissioning is about more than regulation changes. It’s about creating a safer, more
efficient and more responsible future for the sector.

The Future: Decommissioning Smarter

Sureclean’s integrated approach to industrial cleaning and waste management offers a viable
pathway toward economic, safe and sustainable offshore decommissioning.

Operators have a responsibility to retire assets safely. But decommissioning is a cost. Solutions that
reduce the expense of decommissioning while ensuring safer personnel and fewer emissions can be
the incentive to accelerate project financial decisions, progress and delivery.

The next decade of decommissioning will belong to the collaborators and integrators: those who
create value by combining expertise, innovation, and agility to deliver measurable results. You can be
sure that Sureclean will remain at the forefront of that shift.

If you want decommissioning with smarter, safer, and more sustainable results, let’s talk.