The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has released the latest version of the Decommissioning Data Visibility Dashboard in a bid to make decommissioning operations more cost-efficient.
When first piloted by the organisation in 2021, the platform included field-specific information of just three operators. Now, that number is up to 15, unlocking even more vital information about upcoming work to potential suppliers. This will allow for enhanced collaboration and careful planning to achieve more cost-effective decommissioning operations, ultimately making them more attractive.
According to NSTA, the interactive dashboard provides suppliers with the confidence to invest in technologies and training by reducing the uncertainty and lack of transparency around the timing of decommissioning activities. Armed with data from the annual UKCS Stewardship Survey, it shows how many wells, subsea structures and pipelines the companies plan to decommission – as well as the weight of platforms to be removed – over the next five years.
Alastair Bisset, NSTA Head of Decommissioning and DaRT Co-Chair, remarked, “Suppliers need to know when decommissioning work is going to happen so that they can invest with confidence and plan effectively. The dashboard was created to help plug this knowledge gap, so it is very satisfying to see this group of leading operators put their weight behind it.”
Operators will be able to use this data to identify potential collaboration opportunities to decommission wells together (thereby saving costs) while service providers have the chance to discover what skills and resources will be in demand at an earlier date.
Scott Barr, Executive Vice President, North Sea, at Harbour Energy and DaRT Co-Chair, commented, “This dashboard will help provide the supply chain with the visibility and confidence they need to deliver UK decommissioning works in a timely and cost-competitive way. It will also enable organisations to better understand future demand for skills and resources and to further increase their capacity to invest in technology and training programmes accordingly.”
Plexus Holdings PLC, an AIM-quoted oil and gas engineering services business, and owner of the proprietary POS-GRIP friction-grip method of wellhead engineering, has won a contract valued in excess of £1mn to provide specialised equipment and services for multiple plug and abandonment (P&A) activities in the North Sea.
Under the terms of the contract, Plexus will provide Exact adjustable surface wellhead equipment, and specialised centric mudline system tooling and services for P&A operations on wells in the Dutch sector of the North Sea. Operations are planned to commence in Q2 2024 for a period of nine months. Exact adjustable wellheads and centric mudline systems are part of the Plexus licence/collaboration agreement with SLB.
Commenting on the contract, Plexus' CEO Ben Van Bilderbeek said, "The number of wells that must be permanently plugged and abandoned is fast growing, particularly in mature offshore locations such as the North Sea, where the OEUK indicated that decommissioning would account for 25% of oil and gas expenditure in 2023, up from 12% in 2022, and encouragingly I believe this trend will continue. We are therefore delighted that Plexus' reputation is strengthening within this sector, and that our range of customers is broadening. Furthermore, this contract demonstrates the progress we are making in getting back into the adjustable wellhead and mudline equipment market as an established expert in this field and 'go-to' company for this type of equipment and service."
As part of a North Sea project this year, subsea engineering company Interventek will be supplying a newly developed, compact and lightweight bore selector technology to decommissioning services provider, Well-Safe Solutions.
Interventek will also provide life of tool support including training, services and critical spares.
Interventek’s CEO, Alan Duncan, explained, “This type of compact and lightweight technology is currently limited in market availability, so the provision of our new solution to tier one service companies will help to enhance industry efficiency and cost-competitiveness, particularly in the decommissioning sector. We’re delighted to have been selected by Well-Safe as a new equipment supplier and are dedicated to supporting them in delivering optimum results to operators.”
Steven Chalmers, Wells Subsea Manager at Well-Safe Solutions, said, “Well-Safe Solutions is committed to realising safe, smart and efficient well decommissioning operations. New technology plays a vital role in making operations as efficient as possible and Interventek’s Bore Selector will help to boost efficiency when deployed from the Well-Safe Guardian.”
The design of the bore selector supports the industry’s move towards more compact and lighter weight systems with improved deck handling and deployment efficiency. The tool’s function allows a monobore riser or riserless system to be used for intervention on a dual bore Xmas tree. This means that dual bore interventions can be carried out without returning the system to surface to realign the riser for annulus bore access, enabling access to a large number of wells in a shorter period of time, with increased operational efficiency. It is positioned between the tree running tool and the lower riser package and uses an actuated flapper which can be moved manually via a standard ROV interface or hydraulic surface controls. The flapper position directs the wireline toolstring into either the production bore or the annulus. A bi-directional ball valve is also integrated into the annulus access route to enable circulation of fluids during operations.
Aquaterra Energy, a leader in global offshore energy engineering solutions, has won a three-year contract with a leading UK exploration and production company to provide analysis services across the company’s offshore operations.
As per the contract, Aquaterra Energy will provide a range of offshore analysis services to deliver vital insights for the operator, enabling it to optimise its operational performance. This will include riser and conductor analysis for jack-ups and semi-submersibles alongside integrity management, decommissioning and late-life analysis.
“We’re delighted to strengthen our partnership with this customer by signing this contract,” remarked James Larnder, Managing Director of Aquaterra Energy. “We have dedicated significant time and resources to winning these long-term analysis contracts, and the success we’ve seen in this area is a testament to the first-class service delivered by our expert in-house team. To support this growth, we have doubled our analysis team over the last few years, with a focus on recruiting graduates through our award-winning graduate programme.”
Aquaterra Energy will support the operator with recommendations to manage risks and optimise offshore designs for its global portfolio across the full offshore project lifecycle, from extending or decommissioning late-life wells, to early-stage planning. In doing so, it aims to enhance performance, lower costs and support the reduction of carbon emissions from the company’s operations.
Martin Harrop, Analysis Manager at Aquaterra Energy, added, “We’re an agile, solutions-driven partner, and through these long-term agreements can provide customers with assurances and recommendations from the earliest stages of their projects – where we can provide the most value to project delivery and identifying efficiency gains. We work closely with our in-house project engineers to ensure the solutions we suggest to clients are not just what’s best from an analytical perspective, but also an engineering one, and the growth we’ve seen in this area speaks to the quality of our service.”
Independent wells expert, Elemental Energies, has announced the senior appointment of Willem Boon von Ochssee as Head of Wells.
The key appointment comes as the company charts a course for continued expansion in the coming year.
In his global role, Boon von Ochssee will be responsible for managing the business’ well engineering and wider technical strategy, providing expertise and oversight to projects across oil and gas, decommissioning and low carbon. With over thirty years’ industry experience, he joins Elemental Energies from Spirit Energy, where he worked as the operator’s Wells Technical Authority. He is a specialist in well engineering, project management, drilling management systems and well integrity assurance.
Mike Adams, CEO of Elemental Energies said, “Willem is recognised across the industry as a leading technical authority and is a highly respected member of the wells community. We are passionate about the role wells play in the future of the energy sector, and building a uniquely capable technical organisation is critical to that. Willem brings perspective from both the operator and supply chain viewpoint and will help to foster a strong technical culture across the business.”
Willem is a Co-Chair of the Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) licence to operate well group and is an active member on a number of cross industry committees, including the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and North Sea Transition Authority. He also plays a key role in the Net Zero Transition Centre’s Alternative Barrier Collaboration forum.
Adams continued, “Willem brings a unique commitment to supporting the wider engineering community through close links with OEUK and SPE. This dedication to supporting professional development, innovation in technology, and cross industry collaboration makes him a perfect cultural fit for us.”
Commenting on his new role, Boon von Ochssee said, “The opportunity to support, develop and manage the outstanding team here is hugely appealing. Fostering collaboration across the whole energy industry is extremely important to me and I will bring that ethos into this new role – working closely with customers to deliver a first class well management service whether for oil and gas, decommissioning or low carbon projects.”
A UK£1mn investment in developing its largest subsea Chopsaw to date has paid off for Decom Engineering (Decom) following impressive results on its first deployment.
The C1-46 Chopsaw played a pivotal role in a subsea infrastructure decommissioning project on behalf of DeepOcean in the northern region of the North Sea.
This ambitious project involved the removal of pipelines, control umbilicals, and various subsea structures from the seabed in water depths of up to 180 metres, each requiring precise and efficient cutting.
The Decom team was tasked with cutting a wide range of pipe sizes, from 1,042 mm OD concrete-coated carbon steel pipes to 220 mm OD super duplex pipes. These subsea pipelines needed to be segmented into 9.5 metre sections for efficient recovery to the vessel deck.
Powered from topside and ROV using a Hydraulic Power Unit (HPU), reeler, hot stabs and control panel, the C1-46 exceeded all expectations, proving its worth in the harshest of subsea environments. The smaller C1-24 chopsaw was utilised for certain tasks and also operated with a mix of topside and ROV controls.
The C1-46 averaged 15 cuts before requiring a blade change, significantly reducing the need for recovery to the surface and impressively completed 79 cuts on its first deployment, showcasing a remarkable 100% success rate.
Substantial time savings of almost 300% were achieved compared to using traditional diamond wire saws which typically have longer cut times, carry a risk of wires breaking, and require multiple trips to the surface vessel for blade replacement. Using customised insertable and replaceable tips voided the need for blade changes, reducing costs and increasing efficiency by minimising vessel time.
In contrast, the C1-46 completed some cuts in as little as 20 minutes, while the C1-24 saw excelled in cutting super duplex and flexible risers - materials that traditional shears can’t handle.
Furthermore, Decom’s innovative approach to reducing seabed dredging time by modifying the saw’s clamps reduced dredge time from 3.5 hours to just 30 minutes.
Established in the United Kingdom in 2011, Decom is an R&D specialist focusing on the design and fabrication of cutting solutions and innovative decommissioning equipment, with a growing reputation for providing complex deep water project solutions.
Decom Engineering Managing Director, Sean Conway, said, “The C1-46 Chopsaw is a remarkable piece of subsea engineering which was designed, developed, and deployed in under six months, specifically for this North Sea decommissioning campaign.
“This project underlined our commitment to engineering innovation and underlined our credentials for pushing the limits of what’s achievable in subsea decommissioning. To efficiently cut through a submerged 1,042mm reinforced concrete coated pipe is not without its challenges, but the C1-46 was more than up to this difficult task.
“It’s been a valuable learning experience and the performance of the C1-46 Chopsaw sets the benchmark for going on to roll out our technologies which offer multiple benefits to contractors and operators engaged in complex subsea decommissioning projects.”
The C1-46 Chopsaw has been designed to cut tubulars and other materials up to 46” diameter and is able to cut a wide range of materials, including inconel alloys, duplex and concrete.
It can be operated in water depths of up to 2,000 metres, has the ability to cut in any orientation, and is capable of multiple cuts per blade (20-100), resulting in large cost savings and increased efficiency. Blade changes are efficient and safe and the chopsaw can be supplied set up in a number of configurations and settings to suit project requirements.
Aker Solutions has secured a significant contract for the dismantling and recycling of a platform topside and jacket in the North Sea.
While expressing its excitement and earning the contract with Saipem, Aker noted that the decommissioning market is a growing market and one that is rapidly growing its backlog of orders.
“This award adds to an order backlog that already stretches to 2030, and provides further predictability so that we can continue to develop our facility and execution model, with a strong focus on safe operations and capability to deliver a high degree of recycling,” remarked SVP Decom Thomas Nygård.
Indeed, according to the company, it is knowing how to conduct such operations which won this contract. As per the order, Aker will support the receiving, dismantling, sorting and recycling 19,000 tonnes of topside and a steel jacket weighing 10,000 tonnes. These structures will be delivered mainly as modules by Saipem’s semi-submersible heavy-lift vessel, Saipem 7000 between 2025 and 2027.
Of this, 98% is expected to be recycled, representing a key component of the circular economy.
An enormous congratulations to the OWI Global Awards 2023 winners who were crowned in Aberdeen last week during a night filled with fun, food and festivities, where the offshore well intervention community gathered to cap the year of with a bang!
At the annual celebration, a panel of expert judges acknowledged the very best in global well intervention excellence and were tasked with picking out the best from a competitive field of submissions. However, for going above and beyond, there were some who stood out slightly higher from the crowd and were recognised for their achievements.
The winners for 2023 included:
Intervention Champion of the Year: Expro, for taking the crown after celebrating 40 years of its Subsea Test Tree Assemblies operations, delivering more than 3,000 deployments in subsea Exploration and Appraisal completion and intervention applications, and expanding its capabilities to offer a complete subsea well access portfolio!
Energy Transition Pioneer of the Year: Expro, for pioneering to the top with its 50-year legacy supporting the UK oil and gas industry and, last year, investing more than 50% of its development budget into lowering clients’ carbon emissions!
Best Example of Diversity and Inclusion: TechnipFMC, after being names one of the World’s Top 400 Female-Friendly Companies by Forbes and participating in a full roster of events aimed at supporting inclusion in every form!
Best Example of Subsea Intervention: Welltec, after demonstrating huge success with its ultra-slim e-line intervention tools last year!
Best Example of Platform Intervention: 3M, for its impressive achievement in helping to deliver successful sand control remediation through coil tubing deployment to allow the asset to achieve production goals!
Best Example of Downhole Innovation: DarkVision, claiming the top spot for its HADES downhole inspection platform that provides a comprehensive evaluation of the entire well in 3D in a single pass!
Market Intelligence Platform of the Year: Energy Industries Council, as one of the world’s largest energy trade associations for companies to supply goods and services to energy industries worldwide since 1943!
Best Project Outcome: TechnipFMC, securing the accolade with its successful RWLI campaign in ultra-deepwater Angola which included water shut-off and acid stimulation operations for three wells in just 27 days!
Best Example of Collaboration: WellBarrier – a SLB technology & Equinor. The WellBarrier solution was successfully deployed at scale across Equinor’s organisation in support of replacing manual tasks with digital solutions. This solution is estimated to have engineering effort savings of around 10,000 hours during the first year.
Best Example of Digital Innovation: Evoilve, for the excellent work that has come from Evoilve’s COLLABWELLS Well Integrity Management software which has ushered in a new era of efficiency, collaboration and automation within the oil and gas industry.
Best Example of Well Integrity Innovation: EV, prevailing as champion through its award-winning innovation that is the world’s only integrated array video and phased array ultrasound scanning tool.
Best Example of Decom Innovation: Oceaneering, which took home the crown for designing, building and operating an ROV-based annular access methodology based on multi-string hot tapping to mitigate against annular gas and avoid HSE risk in a wellhead severance campaign for a major operator in Southeast Asia.
OWI Global Awards: Significant Contribution to the Industry: Jørgen Hallundbæk, accepted by Cristian Kruger. After our community bid a sad farewell to an individual who has contributed so much towards its progression, the final iteration of this award was presented to Jørgen Hallundbæk, a worthy winner whose legacy will continue to shine through his formidable work and family and friends. To honour his impact, this year saw the first presentation of the ‘Jørgen Hallundbæk Lifetime Achievement’ award which will continue to honour visionaries within the industry.
Jørgen Hallundbæk Lifetime Achievement: Tom Brighton, claiming the prestigious accolade for his 37 years of service and dedication. With an unrivalled portfolio, Tom Brighton has imparted the best practice methods and increased operation standards to the well discipline across the globe and was a worthy winner of the new award!
Thank you to everyone for attending and we look forward to another year of seeing our network push the boundaries of engineering excellence and driving the wider offshore community forward!
Well-Safe Solutions, a global P&A company, has agreed a global master agreement with bp wherein the decommissioning specialist will provide the operator with project management, well engineering, engineering design and well decommissioning services.
The agreement will last until at least September 2026, with two one-year contract extension options available.
Matt Jenkins, Chief Operating Office at Well-Safe Solutions, said, “Following on from our work with bp decommissioning wells in the North Sea’s Kate field earlier in the year, we are delighted to have been awarded this agreement. This multi-year contract will see us deploy our Well Decommissioning Delivery Process (WDDP), which guides operators through the well plug and abandonment process efficiently and safely.
“Our commitment to safe, smart and efficient decommissioning well enable us to deliver bespoke solutions tailored to bp’s well stock, including the possibility of utilising the Well-Safe Guardian, Well-Safe Protector or Well-Safe Defender plug and abandonment rigs.”
Well decommissioning specialist, Well-Safe Solutions, has signed an agreement with Spirit Energy to add a well from the Appleton field to the existing scope of the Well-Safe Defender rig.
This project will add approximately one month of work to the Well-Safe Defender, which mobilised in March 2023 to plug and abandon 14 wells on the UK continental shelf for Spirit Energy.
Chris Hay, Director of Strategy and Commercial at Well-Safe Solutions, said, “From the earliest days of Well-Safe Solutions over six years ago, we have fostered collaborative working throughout the industry to realise safe, smart and efficient well decommissioning operations.
“Spirit Energy’s decision to grant Well-Safe Solutions this contract extension is an endorsement of the excellent performance of the Well-Safe Defender and its crew. We are proud to continue our relationship with Spirit Energy and look forward to continuing our world-class decommissioning operations later this year.”
Head of Wells for Spirit Energy, Nicky Riley, commented, “Well-Safe’s continued strong performance has allowed us to collaborate further with the team - accelerating the decommissioning of the Appleton well, aligning us further with our strategic pillar of meeting and de-risking our decommissioning operations.”
Unity, Europe’s largest provider of well integrity solutions, has launched a new Wellhead Integrity Verification Programme for operators and integrated service providers who are beginning to plan their well abandonment operations.
The programme contains a package of technical support, products and innovative technologies to deliver an inspection, maintenance, repair and assurance service to verify that the wellhead and Xmas Tree equipment is in good condition and fully prepared for operations.
The integrity verification provides a complete check of the Xmas Tree, wellhead and near-surface well equipment and delivers value by reducing risk, cost, downtime and man hours while improving safety and efficiency. It aligns with the industry’s preparatory ‘Phase 0’ stage of plug and abandonment and is a critical stage intended to prevent the significant costs associated with unplanned downtime due to equipment failure after rig-based operations have commenced.
Unity’s Technical Sales Director, Stuart Slater, commented, “Working closely with operators over the life of their wells and through the decommissioning process, we have seen an escalating need for good integrity planning before embarking on P&A operations. Already attracting a high cost burden, operators are looking to mitigate additional risk, expense and downtime caused by unexpected surface equipment failures.
“Awareness among our clients of the need to include a full wellhead integrity review in their pre-abandonment planning is increasing and we are ideally placed to work in partnership with the wider industry to deliver this specialist service.”
Petroac, a leading energy services company, has celebrated the awarding of a significant deal with Saipem to support the decommissioning of a platform offshore the United Kingdom.
Under the terms of the multi-million-pound contract, the companies will work as an integrated team to remove the 20,000 tonne topside using the Saipem 7000, a large semi-submersible heavy lifting vessel.
Nick Shorten, COO of Petrofac’s Asset Solutions business, remarked, “As our sector pursues cleaner sources of energy, decommissioning is a key enabler for the transition. Supporting Saipem and their customer, we look forward to leveraging our knowledge of North Sea operations and service provision, and 20 years of decommissioning experience to deliver a safe and predictable programme that can serve as a case study for the North Sea’s transition.”
Petrofac will execute the three-year project over two phases. The first will include preparations onboard the platform, the second will be on the Sapiem 7000 for the removal campaign. The scope of Petrofac’s contract includes the module separation, lift point inspection, lift point installation, riser and caisson severing.
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