CRP Subsea, an AIS company, has secured a contract with Shell for the supply of crushable foam wrap (CFW) for the Whale deepwater development in the Gulf of America.
The initial order is for one well-set, with additional orders for four more well-sets expected throughout 2025. Each well-set comprises 1,798 CFW quadrants, each one meter in length.
The package also includes installation equipment, such as adhesive (one tube per two quadrants), adhesive dispensing guns, tie wraps, and Spanset straps. CFW is an engineered syntactic foam, comprised of a thermoset resin and hollow glass microspheres (HGMS).
It is designed to be installed around the inner drill casing, which is then immersed in the annulus fluid.
As pressure within the annulus increases, the CFW will collapse at a pre-determined pressure and temperature combination, as dictated by well conditions. This controlled collapse allows for the expansion of annulus fluid, dispersing potentially destructive pressure build-up.
Delivery of the first well-set is scheduled for the third quarter of 2025.
"It’s fantastic that Shell has chosen us to support this exciting deepwater project. We’ve been manufacturing and deploying crushable foam wrap for decades, helping to protect wells around the world. This contract is a great validation of our team’s expertise and dedication to delivering high-quality solutions for the industry,” said Andy Smith, Head of Sales at CRP Subsea.
The Shell Whale development, located about 200 miles southwest of Houston, features a semi-submersible production platform, with capability for remote operations and monitoring of almost every aspect of the facility.
The Whale production facility, which was brought on stream in January 2025, is in the Alaminos Canyon Block 773, adjacent to the Shell-operated Silvertip field, around 10 miles (16 kilometres) from the Shell-operated Perdido platform.
With an estimated peak production of 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), Whale currently has an estimated recoverable resource volume of 480 million boe.