Many of the fixed oil platforms in Brazil and in the world are reaching the life limit of their projects. Petrobras' perspective, for example, is that 15 to 20 of its platforms in Brazil will be shut down by 2020, including their corresponding underwater systems. In the whole country, 79 platforms are already in the early stages of decommissioning. In the evaluation of Ramboll, a multinational consulting, engineering and design company, developer of numerous international projects in the oil and gas sector, the decommissioning of the platforms requires a prior risk analysis, so that the decision to be taken is the most adequate and safe under the environmental aspect.

To discuss the matter, Melinda Truskowski, director for the Americas in the Oil & Gas sector at Ramboll, will present the Panel "Technical Solutions and Good Practices in Offshore Decommissioning", at the 3rd Workshop on Decommissioning of Platforms and Ship Dismantling, at the Brazilian Society of Naval Engineering (SOBENA), on July 17, in Rio de Janeiro (RJ).

With 30 years of experience in Oil & Gas and environmental consulting, Melinda will be responsible for the lecture "Strategies for Cost Reduction through Planning and Management of Demolition Materials", which will show the importance of well-planned planning in the process as well as cutting-edge applications and methodologies, such as the NEBA (Net Environment Benefit Analysis) analysis, make it possible to assess the risks, benefits and trade-offs between options that meet Brazilian regulation and international best practices.

"The NEBA methodology, for example, acts as a way of measuring the loss of ecosystem services not accounted for in conventional benchmarking processes. This helps to identify the appropriate balance between plausible risks and benefits and the associated environmental, social and economic trade-offs between competing alternatives. In simpler terms, NEBA can be used to determine, for each alternative considered, whether the damaging impacts of an action outweigh the ultimate benefits, "explains Melinda.

In offshore decommissioning applications, the methodology reduces total costs, increases socio-environmental benefits, optimizes the project, and facilitates analysis by correlating monetary and non-monetary metrics, and also serves as a basis for benchmarking engineering options.

In addition, Melinda, who has held a number of senior positions throughout her career that included operational management and business development and led global non-conventional oil and gas initiatives, will feature examples of offshore decommissioning around the world that has reduced costs for and minimized environmental impact.

"Ramboll's global reach enables us to identify alternative and innovative approaches that can be applied across national platforms. The company's focus is on environmental decision-making, built on a robust level of scientific evidence with enough accuracy to be able to defend itself with regulators and shareholders, "he concludes.

Melinda has experience in site investigation, remediation, due diligence, processes and water resource management. At Ramboll, it provides strategic leadership and business development and supports the coordination of related activities between the global practices of Ramboll Environment and Health, Ramboll Oil & Gas and Ramboll Water. Melinda holds a bachelor's and master's degree in geophysical engineering from the Colorado School of Mines.

Service 

3rd Workshop on Decommissioning of Platforms and Ship Dismantling 

Date: July 17 

Hours: 08:20 a.m. to 5:40 p.m. 

Location: Windsor Florida Hotel 

Address: R. Ferreira Viana, 81, Flamengo, CEP 22210-040, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 

Contact: https://sites.google.com/view/sobena-descomissionamento2019/o-evento-the-event