Europe

• Region: Mediterranean
• Date: Nov, 2021

At the Offshore Well Intervention Mediterranean 2021 conference Alex Nicodimou, VP, Sales & Marketing, Well Intervention Welltec, hosted a session exploring the challenges and opportunities facing P&A operations in the region.

Nicodimou opened the session with a presentation explaining that the Mediterranean covers a diverse landscape in terms of geology, operating environments, cultures, languages, etc and that the way companies perform work across the region can vary considerably.

He noted that one of the reasons the region is such an exciting area, is that there are so many fields at different stages of development, and is home to some of the largest gas fields in the world which have yet to be drilled. For the latter he added, “There is a fantastic opportunity for P&A as for the first time, we have a region where wells can be planned with the world’s best practices and learnings incorporated from the very start. This is something that Welltec has been trying to address and incorporate through new technology.”

Nicodimou commented that new solutions are being developed to bring efficiency and cost saving to P&A operations, not to mention adapting existing technologies to be applicable to P&A ‒ something Welltec has found a lot of success in.

One area that has brought a lot of attention in the topic of well abandonment is carbon capture storage. Paolo Nunzi, Operations Support Manager ENI, said they have been harnessing this in the North Sea offshore UK. He said one of the most important things to consider in regards to CO2 storage is proximity to the coast as longer distance means more cost and (perhaps ironically) more CO2 produced in the process.

On the topic of new technology, Nicodimou asked if there was a current gap in the technological landscape.

David Dempsie, P&A Task Force Leader Repsol, replied, “Certainly within Repsol our aim is rigless technology. We feel it is perhaps not a missing technology but one that has the capacity to be applied beyond the traditional norms.”

He added that Repsol is looking to undertake a campaign for subsea abandonments within the next two to four years and is looking at rigless technology as a potential solution. He remarked that ultimately risk and economic considerations are what will influence this decision to utilise this technology and undertake such campaigns.

Coming into the conversation, Neil Greig, Sales Manager Helix well Ops (UK) Ltd, said, “We are looking at new technology in-house and working with other companies to develop rigless technology. We are confident we can get it to a place in the future where rigless can be used, even in more complex wells.”

He added that rigless can also bring massive benefits when it comes to data gathering. “You can go out with a rig and not know what you are going to encounter when you go into a well. Data gathering is essential to deal with all eventualities. You could arm a light well intervention vessel with a few extra tools; make it a swiss army knife, and go out with the minimum expectation of getting the tree cap off. Then, if accomplished, you can see if you can get access down to the reservoir to the required hold up depth and if so, see if it is a candidate for doing some pre-abandonment work such as plug and lubricating.

“If you manage to achieve all that you can finish the whole well completely rigless. Worst case scenario you have identified for a rig exactly what it will encounter and it can arrive with all the tools in the box. There are a lot of benefits from doing up front data gathering.”

Dempsie said, “We have a diverse portfolio so we can look at how to apply new technology in a stable environment, perhaps onshore. The biggest risk is if you take the technology offshore, you have all your eggs in one basket and if it does not work first time the appetite disappears. We have to be mindful and service providers need to understand this risk as well. We try to have a balance so we can support and encourage but ultimately, we have to step forward. We won’t see change in our performance unless we instigate change ourselves.”

The future of P&A in the Mediterranean

In terms of appetite for P&A work, Greig commented that the Mediterranean is more difficult as there has not traditionally been enough work to justify a permanent vessel in the region. So every instance when someone has a well which is a candidate brings significant transit costs. “We have only been in the Mediterranean once (2015) but we have been speaking to people for years. We have just not managed to generate enough interest to make it work.

“We need a catalyst to grow around. We think there is a big opportunity to collaborate and we get some vessels into the region. The alternative is we tie our North Sea boats up between October and February which historically happens in UK. What would be favourable is to take these boats into a region more suited to winter months.”

Luca Martini, Well Engineering Manager ENI, touched on collaboration as a way to facilitate further work in the region. He said, “What we try to do is put together our [operators] needs and get a single vessel performing campaigns in line in order to share mobilisation costs. We have regular meetings every three to four months with other operators to pick this up and see if there are any opportunities for synergies but we should be speaking more.”

• Region: North Sea
• Topics: Integrity
• Date: Oct, 2021

SRJ Technologies has announced that it has been awarded a new consulting contract and a contract extension totalling UK£100,000 by SBM Offshore.

The contract extension was won off the back of the successful completion of a previous contract to undertake detailed engineering analysis of SBM’s future FPSO designs. This was part of its Fast4ward programme.

Through the work, SBM will be able to optimise the design of machinery spaces without compromising integrity and long-term reliability. The contract extension covers additional in-depth engineering analysis to enable further FPSO design optimisation and to deliver additional cost savings.

The new consulting contract award is for a reliability analysis and maintenance optimisation to ensure safety system integrity on SBM’s FPSOs. The contract continues the consulting work SRJ has been delivering to SBM over the last year to support the ongoing implementation and roll out of a new ERP system across its fleet of FPSOs.

Alex Wood, CEO of SRJ, commented, “The SRJ consulting team is seeing great demand for its expertise in asset integrity management in all its forms – this cements our relationships with customers and gives us credibility as well as clear visibility of opportunities to sell our asset integrity solutions and products.”

• Region: North Sea
• Date: Oct, 2021

Odfjell Well Services and Odfjell Energy have announced the launch of a plug and abandonment (P&A) and slot recovery alliance alongside companies within the energy industry.

The agreement has an initial duration of two years with an option to be extended. It has been titled, the ‘Odfjell Collaboration Alliance’.

The aim of this alliance is to provide a complete service offering of rig, modular rig, jacking unit, wireline, plugs and all other services needed to successfully execute projects within P&A or slot recovery operations. The focus will be initially in the Norwegian market, with ambitions to expand beyond the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

Kurt Meinert Fjell, senior vice-president of innovation and development, Odfjell Energy, commented, “We are delighted to announce the launch of this strategic alliance, a move which will provide a high-quality oil service solution within the energy market.

“Each member was chosen for their strong history, forward-thinking approach and commitment to quality, and brings their unique area of expertise to support the P&A or slot recovery activities. We are confident that the multi-operator approach will lead to cost-effective solutions that will benefit our clients.”

The Odfjell Collaboration Alliance is managed by Odfjell Energy and Odfjell Well Services. The members include TCO Group, Ardyne, Wellstrøm, Altus Intervention, Control Cutter, JWS Gruppen, Tyrfing Innovation, InterWell and Innovar Solutions.

• Region: All
• Date: Oct, 2021

Expro Group, an international energy services company with market leadership in well access and well flow optimisation, has completed its previously announced merger with Frank’s International N.V., a global oil services company offering a broad range of highly engineered drilling and completions solutions and services.

Mike Jardon, Chief Executive Officer of Expro, commented, “This is an exciting day for Expro and Frank’s as we bring our companies together to create a new global leader with the breadth of capabilities and expertise across the well lifecycle to better support customers. I would like to thank everyone at Expro and Frank’s for their great work in completing the transaction, planning for a successful integration, and positioning the combined company for long-term success.

“This is where the talented teams come together and we look forward to continuing to deliver cost-effective, innovative technologies and solutions, and best-in-class safety and service quality performance to our customers, all while advancing our commitment to creating a more sustainable business and lower carbon future.”

The merger will build on Expro’s strong position within the oil and gas market with accolades including:
• A leading position in large addressable markets, balanced business mix and global operating footprint;
• The ability to deliver cost-effective, innovative solutions to an expanded customer base
• Material exposure to an expected increase in production enhancement activity and an opportunity to capture significant cost and revenue synergies.
• Robust technology portfolio and innovation pipeline to capitalise on the digital transformation, facilitate the energy transition, and deliver on the promise of a lower carbon future.
• A strong financial profile, which reduces risk and increases strategic flexibility.
• Dedication to governance best practices.

"With our broad portfolio of services and solutions, enhanced scale, global operating footprint and strong, debt-free balance sheet, Expro is well positioned for an expected industry recovery and is well positioned to deliver compelling value for shareholders,” Jardon added.

The combined company has assumed the Expro Group Holdings N.V. name.

• Region: North Sea
• Date: Oct, 2021

In order to accelerate the pace at which well P&A technology is qualified and commercialised, the Net Zero Technology Centre has launched an industry collaboration initiative with the ultimate goal of improving industry performance.

Supported by the Technology Leadership Board (TLB) and Oil and Gas UK (OGUK), the approach will enable new technologies to be trialled and tested in multi-operator collaboration field trials, enabling faster, lower-cost and wider industry adoption.

The Oil and Gas Authority has identified that well P&A represents circa 45% of UKCS decommissioning costs, or an estimated UK£23bn spend over the life of a basin, but technology best practice and innovation could help operators reduce this cost and deliver CO2-compatible well P&A techniques.

Over the next two years the well P&A collaboration initiative has committed to increasing the number of technology field trials, in low access cost land wells. This will support the validation and qualification of alternative P&A barrier materials, inspection and verification technologies and other P&A enabling technology streams to expand the reach of the rigless well P&A approach.

Keith Hogg, Project Manager – Emissions Reduction, The Net Zero Technology Centre commented, “This collaboration could be a true game changer in the way we approach technology development in the wells P&A space. It has the potential to accelerate the progress of technologies being field trailed and tested making them available to operators far more quickly.

“The success of this new collaborative approach has been driven by the commitment of the operators; Spirit Energy and Harbour Energy who participated in the first project together. It is this proactive attitude and willingness to collaborate and share information that we need other UK operators to replicate, as this is key to the future of this collaboration and meeting our industry commitment to a minimum of 35% cost reduction and 50% emissions reduction in well P&A by 2035.”

The wells P&A collaboration initiative will be managed by the Net Zero Technology Centre and overseen by a multi-operator steering group, with backing from Spirit Energy, Repsol and Harbour Energy already secured. The steering group will review up to five technologies per year, conducting a minimum of three field trials for each. The ambition for the initiative is to have six technologies qualified and adopted by 2025.

Carlo Procaccini, OGA Head of Technology and Co-Chair of the TLB, said, “Reducing well P&A cost has long been identified by the TLB and the OGA as a very important priority for our industry. Novel technologies have the power to achieve that. The TLB has been proudly supporting the efforts by the Net Zero Technology Centre, Spirit Energy, Harbour Energy and other partners to bring an ambitious field trial programme to life. Now is the right time to expand this programme to more operators and technologies to accelerate testing and adoption of a fuller portfolio of critical technologies for P&A efficiencies.”

Mike Richardson, Industry Technology Sponsor, Spirit Energy added, “Our industry has struggled to be truly collaborative in the past but this is a fantastic opportunity for operators to work together, reduce costs, accelerate new technology have a better range of plugging solutions available…. all at the same time!”

• Region: North Sea
• Topics: Decommissioning
• Date: Sept, 2021

MatthewsDaniel, a global leader in specialist services for the marine and energy industries and applicable insurers, will open a new office in Aberdeen to enhance its offering to North Sea clients.

David Cox, MatthewsDaniel CEO, commented, “We see this move as one that will enable us to not only better serve our valuable North Sea clients, but also grow the organisation in an important market.

“Aberdeen and the North Sea have a rich oil and gas history, and we are excited to play a part in the next chapter of that story as organisations look towards field and asset decommissioning, as well as renewable energy.”

Cox continued, “The focus of this new office will be on the execution of our North Sea and European marine warranty surveying (MWS) and risk assessment operations, with the region possessing the expertise required to deliver rapid solutions to our clients in this key offshore energy hub.

“These are exciting times for the North Sea, and opening this office is an investment in the industry and the skills that the workforce here have. I have no doubt our new office in Aberdeen will enhance our already strong relationships with our existing clients, as well as future ones.”

Staff will work alongside colleagues from Bureau Veritas and Bureau Veritas Solutions Marine and Offshore, giving them access to a greater depth of resources, including engineering and maritime assurance expertise.

MatthewsDaniel’s experts are world-renowned in conducting specialist technical reviews both onshore and offshore for critical project phases and activities, employing a well-researched and quality-assured approach to identify and advise on measures to mitigate and minimise risk.

• Region: North Sea
• Date: Sept, 2021

isol8, an Aberdeen based oil and gas services firm, has received a UK£3.5mn investment from BGF to support its long-term growth plans and develop its zero-emissions product portfolio as its expands its services into the wellbore construction sector.

It is estimated that successful deployment of isol8’s technology could unlock savings of between UK£1.5mn to UK£7mn for platform and subsea wells abandonments. This could translate to savings of between UK£2bn to UK£5bn in North Sea well decommissioning costs.

isol8 is the only company in the world known to use underwater soldering to create metallurgically bonded alloy barriers to seal off oil and gas wells. The firm designs, develops and deploys its industry leading Fusion Barriers, providing a longer lasting and more environmentally friendly solution to traditional cement-based methods.

The drive to decommission

Andrew Loudon, CEO of isol8, commented, “Decommissioning is now a huge focus in the North Sea and we’re partnering with clients to help them significantly reduce their asset retirement costs.
“Now, with the support of BGF, we are in a strong position to broaden our zero-emission product portfolio and accelerate the production of new products, including our casing annulus packers and tubing packers for well construction.

“The BGF team fully understands and supports our vision, and their expertise and business knowledge will be invaluable as we embark on this next chapter together.”

As part of the transaction, BGF Investor Richard Pugh will join the board of isol8 as an investor director, alongside newly appointed independent director Nigel Avern. Nigel is the former CEO of Peak Well Systems, nurturing the business from a small start-up to an international company with market leading positions in well intervention tooling and bridge plugs. Nigel led the successful trade sale of Peak to Schlumberger. Formerly, Nigel spent 18 years with The Expro Group working in range of marketing, technical and general management roles.

Pugh said, “isol8 has huge potential to use its cutting-edge Fusion technology to generate very large savings in plug and abandonment and intervention operations – both of which are markets where we expect long-term growth and where Aberdeen continues to have world-leading expertise.

“At the same time, by ensuring a gas-tight seal, Fusion provides the industry with a much lower emission solution than cement, going some way to address the long-term challenge of de-carbonising the sector. This funding round will support an exceptional management team in completing the final push to commercial adoption, working in parallel with a number of operators who have shown real commitment to the technology.”

• Region: North Sea
• Date: Sept, 2021

Ardyne, a plug, abandonment and casing recovery specialist has been awarded a four-year contract for the provision of fishing services for 86 wells as part of the well plug and abandonment (P&A) programme for two fields in the Northern North Sea.

The work has commenced and is expected to last up to four years across two assets. The job involves Ardyne’s leading TRIDENT and TITAN P&A technologies, with the company having invested approximately UK£2.6mn in brand new industry-first fully traceable (NS-1) fishing and milling tools.

The efficiencies generated by Ardyne’s industry-leading bottom hole assembly technologies could save more than 40 days of rig time across the two platforms, which equates to more than 300 extra downhole trips being avoided.

Alan Fairweather, CEO of Ardyne, commented, “This award is testament to the proven quality and time saving efficiencies of Ardyne's P&A technologies, plus the experienced team and engineering capabilities we have in Aberdeen.

“We are excited to be part of our client’s decommissioning team and look forward to delivering efficiencies during the P&A phase of these platforms. It’s encouraging to see North Sea decommissioning moving forward again, and our investment in a new training scheme will help prepare our workforce for playing a key role in that.”

• Region: All
• Topics: Decommissioning
• Date: Sept, 2021

With a vision to be the go-to well abandonment and decommissioning partner for their clients, Graeme Brand, Business Development Director, explained how JFO has continued to innovate, grow and enhance their business and team globally, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic.

In an article for Energy Voice, Brand explained how, in order to achieve their goal, the company has acquired subsea project and engineering consultancy Subsea Engenuity, identified for its drive to create better technologies and solutions for subsea well abandonment. This has allowed JFO to enhance their portfolio of solutions and embrace new experienced members into their team.

This acquisition has allowed the new members to release the SEABASS vessel based subsea abandonment tool. This is a single trip mechanically locking system for the abandonment of category 2 wells and is designed to deliver cost and time efficiencies compared to existing alternatives. The SEABASS tool is designed to remove containments and provide barriers to allow the well site to return to its original environment state.

Incorporating SEABASS into JFO’s full back deck capabilities, whether combining with our abrasive water jet cutting, or our internal cut and lift tool, for example, a single vessel and multi-skilled team delivers cost and time efficiencies, reduces deck and POB space, improves assurance and safety while significantly reducing a projects carbon footprint. This will allow JFO to deliver a single-source solution, reducing contractual complexity and enabling multi-well and multi-operator campaigns, encouraging collaboration along with more efficient and effective use of vessels.

Decommissioning potential

Brand also noted that, with the outcome of the forthcoming COP26 kept in mind, there will be many opportunities for decommissioning across the globe. A report by MarketsAndMarkets suggested that 7500 offshore platforms across 53 countries are ready to be eased into retirement and a separate study by Rystad predicted that the potential global value of US$42bn by 2024.

Moreover, as Brand continued, the North Sea is the most active basin for offshore decommissioning, setting the benchmark for best practice innovation. With the introduction of the new team members, the SEABASS tool and the existing capabilities of the company, JFO should be well positioned to take advantage of the forthcoming wave of decommissioning and hopes to continue to evolve in order to meet the demands and expectations of their clients and the offshore society.

• Region: All
• Date: Sept, 2021

During a challenging time for the industry, Wellvene, a design, engineering and manufacturing company, has continued to progress from strength to strength and has capped its impressive performance with the introduction of its latest well intervention solution: the WellHOP™ - Shallow Application Slickline Solution.

Writing in its latest update bulletin, Bronson Larkins, managing director of Wellvene, outlined how the company, which is entering its fifth year of operations, has continued in its evolution despite the industry downturn. When the pandemic hit, many companies including Wellvene were forced change their business plans and way of operations. Despite this, Wellvene has pushed on and successfully re-adapted its 2020/21 plan in order to protect its growth objectives and support the changing requirements of the well industry.

For instance, the company recognised that with the increasing pressure on operators and providers to deliver more climate friendly services and products, there has been a shift away from new well delivery to lower cost, lower rate adding well intervention opportunities while companies are also more intent on achieving their P&A obligations. By steering into this, and working to reduce its carbon footprint itself, Wellvene has expanded upon its working relationships with major operating and service companies in the UK, Norway, the Middle East and Australasia.

While signalling that further growth is still on the horizon, Bronson commented, “We’ll continue to re-invest in our business and our people, and reaffirm our commitment to industry improvement, whilst staying true to our core values of safety, integrity, trust, transparency and respect.”

The WellHOP™ solution

As if to demonstrate the strong position the company is currently holding, Wellvene has released the WellHOP™ Shallow Application Slickline Solution, designed as a more efficient solution to addressing shallow plug installations for xmas tree, well head repairs and DHSV remedial work. For their WellHop technology, Wellvene has been selected as a finalist in the Emerging Technology category for The Offshore Achievement Awards 2021.

Wellvene recognised that operating companies have a HSE obligation to carry out annual Wellhead maintenance on all xmas tree valves, wellhead valves and DHSV’s and, with a significant number of tests on any given platform, failure of numerous valves may occur. This can result in the requirement for wireline to be mobilised in order to plug the well for surface valve repairs or to complete remedial work on the DHSV. This can become a time consuming and costly problem for operating companies as securing space on any platform post maintenance campaign, is often tricky.

This is where the WellHOP™ comes in. With a wire drum c/w 3,000ft of 0.125” slickline, measuring head and toolstring winch installed directly onto a frame around the lubricator, it challenges traditional slickline rig ups and operating methods by eliminating the need for a mast and separate wireline winch whilst also simplifying the overall PCE rig up.

The WellHOP™ is specifically designed for DHSV remedial work and to set shallow plugs for xmas trees and wellhead repairs or emergent plugging operations. With the ability to be transported in only two baskets for reduced lifts and full PCE rigged up directly onto well with only two lifts, the system offers significant time saving during rig up and rig down. For multi well campaigns the system can also be lifted directly from one well to the next in a single lift and allows a customer to achieve more xmas tree and DHSV repairs within a single campaign compared with conventional slickline. The WellHOP™ ensures a reduction in operational risk, time, cost and POB whilst improving overall operational efficiency.

Due to its numerous benefits, the WellHOP™ solution has been submitted for the OWI Global Awards 2021. To find out more information on this event, follow this link: https://offsnet.com/owi-awards

• Region: North Sea
• Topics: Decommissioning
• Date: Sept, 2021

Spirit Energy has announced that they have begun planning for the decommissioning of the Chestnut oilfield in the Central North Sea.

Thanks to continued investment from operator Spirit Energy and partner Dana Petroleum, additional wells and class leading production efficiency on the Hummingbird Spirit Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel which sits on Chestnut, the field has produced almost quadruple the initial reserve estimates and has survived for more than a decade after it was first expected to be shut in.

Chestnut – which first came on stream in 2008 with an expected two-year production life – is still producing oil via three wells, the last of which was drilled in 2020. The field, nearly 200 km east of Aberdeen, has now produced more than 27 million barrels of oil, having initially been expected to yield only around 7 million barrels.

All good things…

After an impressive and perhaps unexpected lifespan, Spirit Energy and the FPSO owner Teekay have now started the first stages of preparing to decommission the field.

Under the proposed decommissioning plans, the FPSO will be removed and Teekay will assess potential reuse options or ultimately recycle the vessel in an environmentally safe and responsible manner in accordance with applicable UK/EU regulations. The risers will also be flushed, cleaned and taken back to shore.

The start date for the offshore campaign is dependent on final cessation of production from the field.

Mark Fotheringham, Capital Projects Director at Spirit Energy, commented, “Chestnut has been a key field in Spirit Energy’s portfolio for many years and thanks to the excellent work of teams both on and offshore, it has continued to perform above expectation.

“While it continues to produce today, we need to look to our responsibilities in the future and have the right plans in place for when the time does come to start decommissioning the field. As its production life nears an end, we are now looking forward to a safe removal campaign.

“The collaborative spirit which characterised the production phase of Chestnut’s life will continue as we support Teekay in any repurposing opportunities for the vessel, as well as working with our supply chain on an efficient campaign to plug and abandon the wells.”

• Region: North Sea
• Date: Aug. 2021

Aberdeen-based downhole sensing technology specialist, Well-SENSE, has entered into a five-year agreement that provides Halliburton Company exclusive rights to distribute and deploy Well-SENSE’s FiberLine Intervention (FLI) technology in North America’s unconventional wells market.

Understanding and optimising well and fracture interactions is a challenge that operators face today. Branded by Halliburton as ExpressFiber, the disposable fibre-optic surveying solution offers operators in North America’s unconventional market an accurate and direct subsurface measurement during fracture operations, at a price point to suit every well pad. Unlike other cross-well monitoring techniques that provide indirect measurements, ExpressFiber uses distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) to acquire a direct measurement of microseismic, strain and temperature.

Annabel Green, CEO of Well-SENSE, said, “Entering into our first, multi-year, commercial contract with a leading oil and gas service company is an exciting step for Well-SENSE and it will demonstrate the scalability of FLI. Our unique bare fibre deployment technology delivers cost and time savings alongside superior data and has a wide range of downhole applications. We are firmly focused on delivering that value to operators around the world and our agreement with Halliburton represents a key milestone in this strategy.”

Well-SENSE’s wider range of acoustic and thermal fibre solutions have been successfully deployed, both onshore and offshore, around the world for a variety of applications. Currently the technology is in high demand to assist with cement assurance, leak detection, P&A planning, cross-well strain and vertical seismic surveys.

Well-SENSE is part of Aberdeen’s FrontRow Energy Technology Group, which is focused on nurturing new technology to provide practical solutions to current oil and gas challenges.