Seath Takes Over as Decom North Sea GM

Decom North Sea (DNS) announced that Karen Seath will join the organization in September, in the role of General Manager.

With the total cost of UKCS decommissioning expected to reach approximately £4.5billion in the next five years, these are strategically critical times for the North Sea decommissioning industry. This has been amply demonstrated by the publication of the Wood Review and the more recent “Scotland’s Independent Expert Commission on Oil and Gas: Maximizing the Total Value Added”.  Both reports urge the industry to find “game changing” solutions to the challenges of decommissioning.

Seath therefore joins DNS at an exciting time for the industry. With significant experience in both the public and private sectors, Karen has spent over 20 years ensuring that collaboration, strategic development and risk and regulatory management are top of the agenda.

With a background in academic research and consultancy, Seath spent 14 years with drinks giant Diageo (DEO), before taking responsibility for commercial business development at the University of St Andrews.

DNS CEO Nigel Jenkins said, “Karen holds an impressive range of skills which will prove invaluable in her new role. Her experience in building collaborative partnerships, management of stakeholder relationships at all levels and her focus on strategic policy development and solutions ensures that she has the toolkit which will help me continue developing an already successful DNS.”

Jenkins added, “I am certain that Karen will bring a new perspective to Decom North Sea, where innovation and successful collaboration are central to our activity with members, stakeholders and the oil and gas industry at large.”

Commenting on her appointment, Seath said, “I am delighted to be joining Nigel and the team at Decom North Sea - this is an exciting time for the North Sea decommissioning sector. The promotion of solutions and delivery of effective cross-sector working relationships is a substantial challenge for any industry.  As time progresses, the work of DNS becomes ever more critical to the success of the decommissioning industry and I look forward to facilitating these relationships within the current membership and beyond.”

Karen will join an organization that is already part of a significant collaborative network delivering solutions for the industry. CEO, Nigel Jenkins and DNS Director Nigel Lees will be in the new OGUK Decom forum, and thus into the INSITE program and MASTS, DNS Board Member Paul Charlton is Chairman of NOF Energy, while DNS Chairman Callum Falconer sits on the OGP and SUT decommissioning committees. There are strong, well-established links into EEEGR, Subsea UK, OCA, DECC, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Energy North and the Nuclear Industry Association. The “game changer” will emerge from this network.

decomnorthsea.com