The International Legal Framework and Chinese Legislation on the Decommissioning of Offshore Installations

Abstract

Humans have constructed the offshore installations to acquire oil and gas resources in oceans around the world. However, their life cycles have 30 years and approximately 30% of the offshore installations still remains a waste after their life cycles are over. Developed countries have long discussed to deal with decommission installations issues whether these decommissioned installations may be scrapped on shore or converted to another use. For instance, the United States and European countries have dismantled drilling installations through the ‘rig to reefs’ policy. The global market for offshore decommissioning is expected to increase over approximately 5% of compound annual growth rate from 2020 to 2025. Of these, the Chinese offshore decommissioning market, which is one of the fastest growing offshore installation decommissioning industries in the world, is predicted to grow to an estimated 1.6 billion dollars by 2027. Against these backgrounds, this research aims to explore in-depth the international legal framework that attempts to regulate the decommissioning of offshore installations and its problems, along with Chinese laws and regulations.