Sapura Energy unplugs Prelude wells

Malaysia’s Sapura Energy has completed the Shell Prelude Light Well Intervention (“LWI”) Campaign – plug removal activity for Shell in the Browse Basin, Australia. The campaign was part of the Shell Prelude Floating Liquefied Natural Gas Project.

Awarded in June 2016, the campaign marks the first official project for Shell in Australia and is the first of the 5-year call-off service agreement to supply an integrated service solution for LWI equipment and services that enables cost-effective intervention operations, Sapura Energy – formerly known as Sapura Kencana – said.

The LWI work involved the retrieval of eight suspension plugs from seven wells in the Prelude field and was performed by the Sapura Constructor, Sapura Energy’s intervention vessel.

The SapuraKencana Constructor is a 117m subsea support vessel equipped with a saturation dive system, 2 x remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), a helideck, moon pool and accommodation for 120 personnel.

The vessel used Riserless Light Well Intervention system (“RLWI”) for the project.

According to Sapura Energy, the RLWI system enables work to be performed on subsea wells without the use of a conventional drill rig and offers significant cost savings and easier mobilization compared to a rig-based solution.

Under the same 5-year call-off agreement, Sapura Energy Australia is currently working on Shell Australia’s Light Well Intervention Campaign – Wellhead Retrieval Activity which involves the severance and retrieval of seven wellheads. The decommissioning work is being executed with the AXE severance system, a high-pressure water jet cutting system designed for the environmentally friendly removal of subsea wellheads that removes the need for explosives or rig-based mechanical cutting tools. The project is scheduled for completion in July 2017.