Acteon company Offshore Installation Services (OIS) has been awarded a contract to decommission multiple wells in the North Sea by operator Centrica Energy.
The initial campaign includes six subsea wells in the central North Sea, in categories 2.1 and 2.2, which will be abandoned using a diverless, vessel-based approach.
Planning and engineering are underway, and the offshore scope of the Centrica contract will mobilize in summer 2015. Because of the high degree of flexibility permitted with the rigless operations, OIS continues to engage with other North Sea operators interested in joining the campaign.
OIS has performed 17 multi-operator campaigns since 1996, which has enabled operators to share project costs. It is standard practice for OIS to formulate a multi-operator campaign once the foundation client has signed the contract.
The campaign will be conducted from an anchor-handling tug supply vessel (AHTS), the Island Valiant. During phase one, the Suspended Well Abandonment Tool (SWAT) system from sister Acteon company Claxton Engineering Services will be deployed through the vessel’s moon pool to set cement plugs in the bore and across all the casing annuli.
The second phase will use an abrasive severance system for the cutting of the wells and sequential removal from the seabed. This will conclude the offshore operations.
Colin Shellard, OIS vice president operations, said: “We are supporting the Centrica Energy team with its future multi-well decommissioning program. OIS is a leader in formulating well abandonment campaigns that provide operators with the most cost-efficient way to decommission suspended, non-revenue generating assets and comply with UK oil and gas legislation.”
Since 1996, Aberdeen-based OIS has successfully completed more than 118 well decommissioning projects without a single lost-time incident.