Petrofac completes well decom work for Tullow

Oilfield services provider Petrofac has completed a well decommissioning contract for the oil company Tullow Oil in the Southern North Sea. 

Petrofac said on Monday that its differentiated approach to decommissioning, in support of Tullow Oil’s well plugging and abandonment campaign in the Southern North Sea, saved $2.5 million compared to traditional approaches.

The well engineering and well project management services were deployed within the six-month contract for the Horne & Wren asset in support of Petrofac’s established position as Duty Holder. Part of Tullow Oil’s Thames Area Complex decommissioning project in the SNS, the well plugging and abandonment campaign was a key step in the schedule, the company explained.

Petrofac delivered the conceptual design, detailed planning, procurement, subcontractor management and the full execution of the plug and abandonment operations. Petrofac’s well project management software WellAtlas was used throughout the project.

Horne & Wren is a normally unmanned asset and there were a number of challenges to be overcome in the execution of the contract. Petrofac’s integrated cross-discipline team developed technical solutions to s mitigate these, including using a jack-up lift barge rather than a jack-up rig and deployment of a pipe recovery technique rather than a heavy lift vessel.

Alex Macdonald, Managing Director – Well Engineering, Petrofac Engineering & Production Services, said: “This was a challenging but highly rewarding project. In addition to providing a highly cost-effective solution, we also saved time on the project by proposing optimizations solutions to allow the preparatory works to be integrated as simultaneous operations.

“This highlights our ability to provide effective outsourced plug and abandonment project management, seamlessly integrated into the overall decommissioning project and driving value through differentiation.”

Ian Manners, Project Manager at Tullow Oil, said: “Petrofac went above and beyond our expectations, with a high level of engagement achieved by collaborating with us as a single team. The UKCS operation is amongst the very best, if not the best in the world.”