isol8 Secure Decommissioning Challenge Fund III Investment

Oilfield services start-up isol8 is set to test its new plug and abandonment (P&A) technology in a North Sea field trial, having secured more than £1 million to fund its development.

The company, which was established in 2017, is building a fully functioning well intervention business in Aberdeen to support decommissioning operations globally.

isol8 was one of only 12 businesses to receive investment from Scottish Enterprise’s Decommissioning Challenge Fund at the end of last year.

This recent cash injection will support isol8’s ambition to deliver new well barrier materials to permanently abandon oil and gas wells, with CEO Andrew Louden believing his company’s technology has the potential to reduce well decommissioning costs by up to £20 billion.

He said: “The Oil & Gas Authority is forecasting that the total cost of UKCS decommissioning could exceed £58 billion, with the well P&A proportion representing 48% of that total figure. That means North Sea P&A costs alone could read £28 billion. Through our range of unique alloy-based products, our vision is to develop the highest quality wellbore isolation solutions to drastically improve well integrity, maximise economic recovery, significantly reduce well abandonment costs and eliminate emissions. We were therefore delighted to secure outside investment to enable us to continue to design, develop and deploy our revolutionary offering.”

The Scottish Government’s Energy Strategy, launched last year, recognises that decommissioning offers significant economic opportunities and commits to enhance the capabilities and capacity in Scotland. isol8 hopes its innovative wellbore isolation technologies will help to make Scotland the centre of excellence for this particular P&A method, generating more opportunities for support services from the local supply chain.