Planning & Executing Decommissioning Projects – Home & Globally

Promethean Energy at D&A 2025: Driving Execution Through Strategy, Partnership & Purpose

Houston, TX | D&A 2025 – “If you want to get your ARO liability down, there’s no shortcut — you just have to get the work done.” With this decisive statement, Ernest Hui, Promethean Energy’s Chief Strategy Officer, opened his featured session at the Gulf of Mexico Decommissioning & Abandonment Conference (D&A 2025) — delivering a strategic blueprint for planning and executing decommissioning both locally and globally.

Held in Houston, the event brought together leading minds from the offshore energy space to address the accelerating challenge of safely, efficiently, and sustainably retiring aging infrastructure. Hui’s message was crystal clear: Decommissioning is no longer a future obligation. It is a present opportunity — if managed with foresight, collaboration, and purpose.

“The Best, Last Steward” – A Global Responsibility Starts at Home

Like a seasoned corner coach calling the next move, Hui drew a parallel between decommissioning and heavyweight stewardship. As he explained, with over 1,500 offshore platforms aging in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) — and 500 already overdue for D&A, the Gulf of Mexico faces an immediate $50B+ challenge. That figure balloons to six times the global total.

But this isn’t just about liabilities. It’s about legacy.

“You either divest early and responsibly — or you prepare to steward assets through end-of-life the right way,” Hui said.

Promethean Energy, a niche operator in mature offshore assets, has built its mission around that principle: to be the “best, last steward” of aging oil and gas infrastructure. That means bringing intentionality and innovation to decommissioning planning from the Outset.

Ernest Hui opens his D&A 2025 session with a bold message on proactive decommissioning planning.

What Does a Revised Strategy Look Like?

Hui’s session, titled “Decom 2.0: A Revised Strategy in the Energy Evolution,” laid out Promethean’s evolved framework for handling end-of-life energy assets. Drawing from Promethean’s operational playbook, Hui highlighted three essential pivots:

1. Start with Strategy

Don’t treat decommissioning as the tail-end task. Align your corporate strategy with the stage in the asset life cycle where you want to operate.

• Not in late life? Divest early.
• In late life? Plan proactively and operate with decom in mind.

2. Integrate the Lifecycle

View late-life operations as the first stage of decommissioning. Use the remaining production years to prepare:

• Perform asset integrity checks
• Plan well, P&A logistics
• Prepare regulatory filings early

3. Act with Intent

The longer you delay, the more expensive it becomes. Hui emphasized:

“Staff with historical knowledge are retiring. Regulations will tighten. And costs will rise.”

Promethean’s late-life through decom model: clarity, continuity, and collaboration.

Collaboration: The Only Way to Lower Costs and Risks

One of Hui’s most resounding themes was the power of campaigning and cross-operator collaboration. He explained how shared mobilizations, aligned schedules, and bundled asset retirements lower execution costs significantly while improving safety outcomes.

“Why wait and do it alone? There’s plenty to do — let’s collaborate.”

Benefits of the campaign model Hui promoted include:

• Shared mobilization/demobilization costs
• Lower per-well execution cost from continuous learning
• Retention of skilled offshore and onshore teams
• More chances to identify reuse/repurpose candidates (ROICE)

And for supply chain partners? A predictable, continuous funnel of work encourages investment, talent retention, and tech deployment.

“When you give the supply chain clarity, they respond with performance.” – Ernest Hui

Repurposing: Turning Retirement into Rebirth

Hui also shone a spotlight on ROICE – Repurposing Offshore Infrastructure for Continued Energy – an initiative supported by Promethean and hosted by the University of Houston.

ROICE explores how decommissioned platforms can power the next generation of offshore infrastructure:

• Wave and tidal energy
• Wind-to-hydrogen conversion
• Geothermal and CO₂ sequestration
• Aquaculture, data centers, and artificial reefs

This kind of reimagining, Hui suggested, offers dual value: reducing decom liabilities while contributing to a low-carbon, blue economy.

Decom Done Right

As the session concluded, Hui didn’t just leave the audience with a list of tactics — he left them with a mindset. Decommissioning isn’t a burden. It’s a strategic opportunity to:

• Reduce financial liability
• Execute safely and predictably
• Support energy transition goals
• Build the future offshore workforce

Promethean’s role? To lead by doing. With boots on the ground, campaigns underway, and a portfolio designed for late-life and decom excellence, Promethean is proving that execution is everything.

“If we collaborate — if we plan — we don’t just meet obligations. We build something better.”

Learn more about Promethean’s approach to late-life stewardship and decommissioning:

www.promethean-energy.com

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