On May 11, the Brazilian Naval Engineering Association (SOBENA) held the 6th Workshop on Decommissioning and Dismantling of Ships and Offshore Assets. The online event, sponsored by OceanPact, brought together specialists from Brazil and other countries to debate subjects related to dismantling, recycling and regulation of these activities.
The webinar took place from 8 am to 6 pm and featured four panel discussions: The Dismantling and Recycling Market and Its Prospects; Analysis of the Brazilian Dismantling Market; Vision of the Market, Regulation and Decommissioning Prospects; and Technologies, Solutions and Best Practices in Vessel Decommissioning. Special attention was paid to efforts to combat the worldwide proliferation of sun coral, one of the most dangerous invasive marine species. This organism attaches itself to vessel hulls and is transported to different countries, where it proliferates rapidly and endangers ecosystem balance.
During the workshop, it became clear that decommissioning and dismantling involve vessels and offshore installations that have reached the end of their life cycle or are no longer profitable. In order to minimize the environmental impacts, different nations are increasingly concerned with recycling these assets’ materials and equipment, especially steel and electronic systems. Particular attention needs to be paid to toxic components and even radioactive elements, to ensure that they do not cause severe harm to the environment. Floating platforms, including floating production, storage and offloading vessels (FPSOs), can be decommissioned at a location far from their operating site, while fixed jackets are dismantled in situ. In general, the latter structures are located in older oil and gas producing fields, whose reserves are in the final stage, have low productivity and are expensive to maintain.
Ricardo Portela, the president of SOBENA, gave the opening remarks and welcomed the participants. He then handed over to engineer Ronald Carreteiro, who moderated the first and third panel discussions. The second panel discussion was moderated by another engineer, Bruno Galhardo, who also works for SOBENA, while the last one was led by Marcelo Igor Souza of the Naval Engineering Department at Rio de Janeiro Federal University. Before closing the event, Ricardo Portela thanked all the speakers for taking part, as well as OceanPact and the other sponsors.