The Department of the Interior today has proposed a new rule to ensure offshore oil and gas operations on the Outer Continental Shelf are conducted with the utmost safety and oversight standards.
The proposition by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) will revise the 2019 Well Control Rule and focus on well integrity and blowout prevention. These innovations will help protect human lives and the environment by incorporating the latest technology and the lessons learned from operator experience and incident data since the current rule was adopted.
“Protecting human lives and the environment has always been BSEE’s highest priority, and this proposed rulemaking will further ensure safe and environmentally responsible offshore energy production,” said BSEE Director Kevin M. Sligh. “These proposed revisions to the Well Control Rule are the result of knowledge and experience gained by stakeholders and BSEE since the 2019 rule was implemented. They will protect workers’ lives and the environment from the potentially devastating effects of blowouts and offshore oil spills.”
In the immediate aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon incident in 2010, BSEE adopted several recommendations from multiple investigation teams to improve the safety of offshore energy operations, leading to the publication of the 2016 Well Control Rule. In May 2019, BSEE published a final rule that weakened certain safety provisions. Today’s proposed rule would revise some of the items that were amended or rescinded in 2019.
To further protect human lives and the environment, the Department is proposing revisions that would:
• Require blowout preventer systems (BOPs) to be able to close and seal the wellbore to the well’s kick tolerance design at all times;
• Remove the option for operators to submit failure data to designated third parties and instead require the direct submittal of failure data to BSEE;
• Require failure analysis and investigations to start within 90 days instead of 120 days;
• Require independent third parties to be accredited by a qualified standards development organisation;
• Specify that surface BOPs on existing floating facilities must follow the dual shear ram requirements when replacing an entire BOP stack;
• Require that remotely operated vehicles be capable of opening and closing each shear ram on a BOP;
• Require the operator to provide test results to BSEE within 72 hours after completion of the tests if BSEE is unable to witness testing.
Publication of the proposed rule also initiates a 60-day public comment period.
The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) has given its consent for Aker BP to use the mobile drilling facility AKOFS Seafarer for well intervention activities on the Skarv field.
The AKOFS Seafarer is owned by AKFOS Offshore which undertakes well intervention and subsea installations in Norway as well as internationally.
Located in the Norwegian Sea, the Skarv field has been developed with a floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) with five subsea templates with 15 wells. Work is ongoing to evaluate the potential of infill wells and other prospects in the area due to a decline in production.
Pioneering Spirit, the world’s largest construction vessel, has removed the West Alpha and East Alpha structures from the North Sea’s Tyra field and will deliver them for recycling at Frederikshavn, Denmark.
The removal of the jackets concludes Allseas involvement in the Tyra Redevelopment Project. In total, Pioneering Spirit has removed more than 35,000 tonnes of offshore facilities from the field. The redeveloped Tyra II will continue the production of natural gas with 30% less CO2 emissions contributing to the energy security for Denmark and Europe.
2022 saw a record year for Pioneering Spirit. The vessel has lifted and transported approximately 115,000 tonnes of new and decommissioned facilities for the offshore energy industry.
Allseas’ role in the project covered engineering, preparation, removal and transportation to specialist dismantling yards of the complete East Alpha and West Alpha platforms, flare jackets, IPF and monopole.
Thunder Cranes, a leading provider of portable, modular, offshore rental cranes with a dynamic lift capacity ranging from 2 to 60 tons, has re-opened its operations in the Middle East with a base in the United Arab Emirates.
The company’s temporary installation cranes are designed to be versatile and adaptable, with a number of tie-down scenarios, on-deck placement configurations, and boom-length options to choose from.
The cranes allow clients to efficiently and cost-effectively support P&A, well intervention, facility engineering and decommissioning jobs, without compromising safety, time, and performance.
Previously Thunder Cranes had operated in the region with a base in Dubai from 2009 to 2019. The newly re-opened office and yard facility will enable Thunder Cranes to more effectively serve the UAE and Middle East moving forwards.
Dinesh Arumugam, CEO of Thunder Cranes, said, “As a market-leading provider of portable-modular offshore rental cranes, Thunder Cranes is committed to helping customers in the UAE and across the region with cost-effective and efficient lifting solutions to support offshore projects.”
Allseas has been awarded a major decommissioning contract by TAQA UK for the removal and disposal of multiple northern North Sea facilities.
The engineering, preparation, removal, and disposal (EPRD) contract comprises TAQA’s Eider Alpha, Tern Alpha, North Cormorant and Cormorant Alpha platforms. The combined weight of the topsides and jackets to be removed is around 114,000 tonnes, making this the largest single offshore UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) decommissioning contract scope to date.
Allseas’ task is to remove four platform topsides, three steel supporting jackets and transport them to a suitable onshore yard facility for dismantling. It is hoped that at least 95% of the materials from the facilities will be reused or recycled.
The platforms are located close to each other, approximately 100 kilometres north-east of Shetland, in water depths ranging from 150 to 167 metres.
All structures will be lifted and removed to shore as single units using Allseas’ heavy lift vessel Pioneering Spirit.
Platform removals are planned post 2025.
At the rapidly approaching Offshore Well Intervention Latin America Conference (OWI LATAM), members of the oil and gas community will meet to provide updates on the well intervention market and hear how each other are navigating the current operating environment.
Among the host of unique panel discussions and presentations, David Carr, Senior Vice President – International at Helix Well Ops, will examine examples of innovative LWI vessel-based solutions for complex well integrity issues and production enhancement purposes. In doing so, he will help to improve the efficiency of future well intervention projects.
Attendees will have the exclusive opportunity to review multi-service campaigns completed on an integrated vessel and how this can solve a variety of challenges operators face when embarking on intervention projects.
In addition, there will be the opportunity to engage with Carr on how collaboration with an international and multi-disciplinary team has led to seamless operational efficiency, as the Senior Vice President opens the floor up to discussion.
To view the full programme click here:
https://www.offsnet.com/latam/conference-brochure
Or reach out to the details below:
Rachael Brand
Project Manager
T: +44 (0) 20 3409 3041
e:
When the Decommissioning & Abandonment Asia pacific Workshop 2022 (D&A APAC) arrives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in October, Nora Farahzilla bt Abdullah, Wells WI and P&A DD Engineer at Shell Sarawak will contribute to the impressive agenda of discussions and presentations to enlighten the Asia Pacific oil and gas community on the regions decommissioning landscape.
The representative from Shell Sawawak will focus her presentation on the scope of the plug and abandonment performed on one of her company’s platforms, providing a valuable case comparison for the upcoming abandonment campaigns of other companies.
While Covid-19 restrictions continue to relent across the globe, many will remain for some time yet and the threat of variants means there is always a chance of more being reinstated. With this in mind, the Wells Engineer will reveal how the operation was managed during Covid-19 to allow for the maximum utilisation of available resources within pandemic restrictions.
Attendees will have unrivalled access to the lessons learned from the project and how this method will be improved and used for replica operations.
To find out more, click here: https://events.offsnet.com/DAAPAC2024#/
Or reach out to the details below:
Erin Smith
Global Accounts & Australasia Regional Manager
T: +64 (0) 289 900 118
E:
Schlumberger, Aker Solutions and Subsea 7 today have announced an agreement to form a joint venture which will help customers unlock reserves, reduce time to first oil and lower development costs while simultaneously delivering on their decarbonisation objectives.
The proposed joint venture will comprise the subsea businesses of Schlumberger and Aker Solutions, with Subsea 7 purchasing 10% of the joint venture for US$306.5mn. This combination brings together deep reservoir domain and engineering design expertise, an extensive field-proven subsea production and processing technology portfolio, world-class manufacturing scale and capabilities, and a comprehensive suite of life-of-field solutions to customers all over the world.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals as well as other customary closing conditions, and is expected to close during the second half of 2023.
The board of directors of the joint venture will consist of three representatives from Schlumberger, two from Aker Solutions and one from Subsea 7. As part of the transaction, the new joint venture will form part of Subsea Integration Alliance, currently an unincorporated alliance between Schlumberger and Subsea 7.
Olivier Le Peuch, Chief Executive Officer of Schlumberger, said, “This joint venture will bring together world-class businesses that are uniquely positioned to provide subsea technologies to help our customers improve recovery and reduce overall subsea development costs. Customers will benefit from enhanced services that leverage digital and technology innovation to drive improved performance while increasing energy efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions.”
Kjetel Digre, Chief Executive Officer of Aker Solution, commented, “By combining our strong and complimentary competence and technologies, this compelling combination will deliver an industry step change that will benefit our customers, employees and significantly increase shareholder value. The offshore market activity is increasing, and this joint venture will drive enhanced offerings both in terms of subsea production economics and low-carbon solutions.”
John Evans, Chief Executive Officer of Subsea 7, added, “We are excited to build on our highly successful alliance with Schlumberger and partnership with Aker Solutions. This new joint venture is a critical step as we collaborate on the integrated subsea projects that drive maximum value for our customers.”
Independent drilling contractors, Stena Drilling, has introduced a new well delivery and decommissioning service, Stena Wells, with the aim of combining the renowned drilling contractors with an experienced team of well delivery experts with promises of consistently providing their clients with safe, cost-effective and predictable outcomes.
The vision laid out by the company is to join forces with a pre-constructed team to deliver and execute all client expectations. Previously, operators will source external well construction and decommissioning activities, with the team having to familiarise themselves with the rig and the internal operations. By having a team already formed with the predetermined understanding of how operations are delivered, Stena Wells wants to remove that learning curve to enable a focused approach to operations.
In a video posted on their LinkedIn, director of Stena Wells, Dillan Perras, said, “Stena Wells comprises of two main elements; these are the building blocks of what we are trying to do. The first building block is Stena Drilling, a well renowned, international drilling contractor. The second part of the offering is the Stena Wells engineering team that brings a wealth of experience, knowledge, capabilities and competence. Stena Wells will provide the planning, the permitting, engineering, notification, construction or decommissioning of any well stock.”
The Robotics division of Helix Energy Solutions Group, Helix Robotics Solutions, has been awarded a 180 day firm-plus-options contract by a local Thailand contractor to perform decommissioning services using the subsea construction vessel Grand Canyon II.
The contract scope of work, to be performed across multiple Thailand offshore fields, includes DP3 vessel services, crane support and ROV services in connection with subsea well abandonment and decommissioning operations. It is scheduled to begin in the late fourth quarter 2022.
Jeremiah Hebert, Helix’s Vice President – Americas/APAC Region, commented, “This decommissioning award offshore Thailand is another significant project for Helix as it represents the flexibility of our vessel and ROV assets to seamlessly transition from renewable services we are currently supporting to oil and gas operations, and expands our already strong track record in the Asia Pacific region.”
The Grand Canyon II is a DP3 multi-role construction support vessel equipped with a 250 MT AHC subsea crane, moonpool, two 3,000m rated 250hp UHD ROVs, integrated ROV deck space and removable bulwarks. With clear deck areas up to 1,650 sq m, it is well suited for subsea construction, inspection, repair & maintenance and offshore renewables activities.
The Grand Canyon II has been under long-term charter with Helix since 2015, and recently signed a five-year charter extension that runs from January 2023 through the end of 2027. Most recently, it was working offshore Taiwan on Renewable energy and wind farm construction work.
In October, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, will be host to the Asia Pacific offshore community, the upcoming Decommissioning & Abandonment Asia Pacific Workshop 2022 (D&A APAC), where the offshore community will gather to review the region’s decommissioning landscape and develop cost effective decommissioning strategies for future campaigns.
Among the wide range of presentations and panel discussions currently being prepared for the conference, Abdul Halim Ab Hamid, Decommissioning & Abandonment (D&A) Executive, Group Project Delivery, Project Delivery & Technology, at Petronas Carigali will explore one of the most tantalising prospects within the abandonment space – sustainable artificial reefing.
Rig to Reef, as it is often known, is a practice well established in jurisdictions such as the Gulf of Mexico but is often disregarded or simply underutilised in other regions around the globe.
The representative from Petronas Carigali at D&A APAC will discuss Rig to Reef as a sustainable repurpose concept and showcase it as a potential strategy for decommissioning planning.
He will seek to explain the effectiveness and sustainability of Rig to Reef as a programme by establishing reefing guidelines via reef design and reefing engineering parameters, marine environmental considerations and pollution prevention plans.
Finally, he will help attendees to maximise the recovery value from materials to be refurbished and prevent value leakage from waste via material inventories classification for reefing.
To learn more about the workshop: https://events.offsnet.com/DAAPAC2024#/
Or reach out to the details below for more information:
Erin Smith
Global Accounts & Australasia Regional Manager
T: +64 (0) 289 900 118
E:
Spirit Energy Production (UK) ltd. has engaged ABL Group to provide marine warranty survey (MWS) and marine consultancy services for the operator’s decommissioning portfolio in the southern North Sea and the Irish Sea.
Spirit Energy has contracted ABL on a three-year contract (with three optional one-year extensions) to provide the marine warranty scope for the operator’s decommissioning campaigns.
ABL, which has provided a wide range of marine and engineering services for decommissioning operations in some of the world’s most complex offshore structures, will provide MWS services for decommissioning operations involving the removal of topside, and jackets for the following three offshore oil and gas platforms: Audrey A & B, and Ensign.
Ashley Perrett, Engineering Manager, ABL Aberdeen, commented, “ABL has considerable experience in supporting clients with the safe, efficient and optimised decommissioning of their oil and gas assets. Our long history in the sector, combined with our participation in a number of industry firsts within decommissioning, gives us unique insight into the range of challenges which can impact these complex marine operations.”
ABL’s MWS scope of work includes technical document and procedural review, on-site attendance and marine consultancy support for offshore operations during the campaign. Suitability surveying of the proposed fleet for the campaign is also part of the scope.
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