Fraser Well Management takes over operation of suspended offshore well

Independent oil and gas development and production firm Bridge Petroleum has appointed well engineering and project management specialist Fraser Well Management (FWM) to operate the suspended appraisal well in the Galapagos field in the Northern North Sea.

FWM launched its new well operatorship division earlier this year, providing end-to-end well operator support for the entire lifecycle of oil and gas wells.

Contract with Bridge Petroleum marks a significant expansion for the new division, coming in the wake of the successful transfer of operatorship of NEO Energy’s Babbage and Victoria wells earlier in 2020.

Bridge’s Galapagos well, whose operatorship was awarded to FWM, is a suspended standalone subsea appraisal oil well located at a depth of 500 feet in block 211/27 of the UK Continental Shelf, 130 kilometres northeast of the Shetland Islands. Drilled in 2012, it was suspended by the previous licence holder in 2013.

Nick Ford, FWM managing director, said: “Adding Bridge to our well operator client base demonstrates the success of our outsourced well operator model. The well operator and well-engineering contract with Bridge is a great step forward in widening and developing our client base”.

The Galapagos field is the former un-depleted North West Hutton Field which, including its southern accumulation is thought to contain around 700 million barrels of hydrocarbons. Bridge plans to redevelop the Galapagos field in phases.

Bridge’s Galapagos asset manager Matt Mulcahy said: “Transferring the Galapagos well operatorship will enable us to focus our resources on developing our highly promising Galapagos field, as well as pursuing other exciting opportunities on the UKCS”.

As part of the transfer, FWM is responsible for the periodic well status checks, maintenance of records and well integrity reporting to the regulators, Bridge and other stakeholders.

The Galapagos well has been fully integrated into FWM’s well integrity management system, including the transfer of data and compliance verification to the UK regulatory requirements.

With the well operatorship contract in place, Bridge also has access to other FWM services and support, including engineering, asset integrity, and commercial disciplines for the drilling, intervention or decommissioning of assets.

The Galapagos well contract is Fraser Well Management’s third new contract in less than six months since the launch of the firm’s new well operatorship division.