Hess awards North Sea decommissioning job to Petrofac

Oilfield services provider Petrofac has been awarded a well plugging and abandonment contract in the UK North Sea with oil company Hess.

Petrofac said on Tuesday that the agreement includes provision of Well Operator and Well Engineering Project Management services for four wells within the Rubie and Renee fields, 200 km north east of Aberdeen.

The wells, which were previously shut-in as part of an earlier decommissioning phase, will now be fully abandoned, Petrofac added.

Petrofac will be responsible for detailed planning, direct procurement and management of all sub-contracted services, including provision of a semi-submersible rig.

Nick Shorten, Managing Director for Petrofac Engineering and Production Services West, said: “We are delighted to secure our first well engineering scope with Hess.”

Shorten added: “At the end of the asset lifecycle, the focus on cost and schedule remains as important as ever. This award is testament to the approach we take to develop flexible commercial frameworks in line with our clients’ operating strategy – in this instance, the contract includes lumpsum turnkey elements.”

The Rubie/ Renee facilities are located in UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) Blocks 15/21, 15/26, 15/27 and 15/28 of the central North Sea, approximately 115 km east of the UK coastline and approximately 60 km west of the UK/Norway median line. Water depth ranges from 113 to 150 m.

The Rubie and Renee fields lie approximately six kilometers apart. The Renee field consists of two production wells, one water injection well and the Renee Production Manifold (RPM) which was tied back to a Cross-Over Structure (COS) and on to the Riser Base Manifold (RBM) in the Ivanhoe, Rob Roy and Hamish (IVRRH) Development. The RPM was also tied back to the COS via a Dynamic Umbilical Base Structure (DUBS). The single Rubie production well was tied back to the RPM, via a 5.6 km, 8” pipeline (PL1624).

Production from the Rubie and Renee Fields was achieved through the Hess-operated Floating Production Facility (FPF) AH001, which was located 21 km to the northwest of the Renee field.


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