Category Archives: Abandonment and Decommissioning
USA: Nexen’s Kakuna Well Fails to Impress

Nexen Inc. today reported that drilling operations are complete on the Kakuna sub-salt exploration well on Green Canyon block 504 located approximately 180 miles southwest of New Orleans in deepwater Gulf of Mexico.
The well did not encounter commercial hydrocarbons, and is now in the process of being plugged and abandoned. Kakuna was drilled to a depth of 30,300 feet at a total cost of approximately $120 million, net to Nexen ($80 million after-tax).
Nexen is the operator of Kakuna with 72.5 %, while Statoil owns the remaining 27,5 %. Norway’s oil giant Statoil farmed into the Kakuna prospect in June 2011.
Nexen owns a broad inventory of exploration prospects in the Gulf of Mexico, including the sub-salt Miocene play in the central Gulf of Mexico and the Norphlet play surrounding our Appomattox discoveries.
The company’s 2012 exploration program includes approximately 15 offshore exploration and appraisal wells in the UK North Sea, West Africa and the Gulf of Mexico.
Related articles
- USA: Statoil Extends Maersk Developer Contract for GoM Work (mb50.wordpress.com)
- Nexen profit hit by lower production (calgaryherald.com)
Recap: Worldwide Field Development News (Mar 16 – Mar 22, 2012)
| This week the SubseaIQ team added 8 new projects and updated 32 projects. You can see all the updates made over any time period via the Project Update History search. The latest offshore field develoment news and activities are listed below for your convenience. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Norway: NPD Supports Statoil’s New Rig Concept for Subsea Wells
The NPD encourages licensees in Statoil-operated production licences to support Statoil’s plans for using a new type of rig that is specially adapted for maintenance of subsea wells.
A letter sent to the relevant companies points out that recovery from producing fields is an important commitment area for the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. An increasing percentage of the oil production on the Norwegian shelf comes from subsea wells, and the number of wells is increasing. The NPD has noted that it could be challenging to both drill new sidetracks from the subsea wells and carry out maintenance.
“That is why the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate is concerned with finding good solutions that can contribute to maintaining or increasing production from subsea wells,” says Torsten Bertelsen, director responsible for the Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea.
Statoil has long worked on a new type of rig for subsea wells, a so-called category B rig. It is permanently equipped for cables, coiled tubing and slim hole drilling and is specially adapted to well intervention campaigns. This type of rig can be used on multiple fields with subsea wells.
Use of such a rig will contribute to improve rig capacity, increase the number of subsea wells and thus improve recovery from subsea wells.
In the letter to the licensees the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate asks the companies to support Statoil’s project or to present alternative measures or projects that can yield similar effects.
“A cooperation on the new rig type across production licences is considered good resource management,” says Bertelsen.
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- Norway: EMAS AMC Wins Fram SURF Deal from Statoil (mb50.wordpress.com)
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- Statoil Introduces New “Cat J” Jackup Rig for Norwegian Continental Shelf + [VIDEO] (mb50.wordpress.com)
- Helix Orders Semi-Sub Well Intervention Rig in Singapore (mb50.wordpress.com)
- Norway: DOF Subsea to Provide Offshore Survey & Construction Services to Statoil (mb50.wordpress.com)
- Norway: Statoil Steps Up Technology Efforts to Increase Production (mb50.wordpress.com)
- Recap: Worldwide Field Development News (Mar 2 – Mar 8, 2012) (mb50.wordpress.com)
Helix Orders Semi-Sub Well Intervention Rig in Singapore
Houston-based subsea well intervention specialist, Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc., has signed a contract with Sembcorp Marine’s subsidiary Jurong Shipyard in Singapore for the construction of its newbuild semisubmersible well intervention rig previously announced by Helix in February. The estimated value of the contract is US$385.5 million.
Owen Kratz, Helix’s Chairman and CEO, stated, “We are pleased to have selected a proven partner in Jurong Shipyard to leverage on our market and technological leadership in subsea well intervention. This new asset, engineered and designed based on the lessons learned from our successful Q4000 platform, is being constructed to meet an increasing market demand for specialized deepwater well intervention services worldwide. We look forward to the delivery of this new-generation advanced well intervention vessel and plan to expand this business segment even further.”
The semi-submersible well intervention rig will be built based on Bassoe Technology’s naval architectural design with Helix’s equipment layout. Featuring the latest technology, the rig is an efficient purpose-designed platform with capabilities to perform a wide variety of tasks, including conventional and extended top hold drilling, subsea construction, decommissioning well intervention, coiled tubing operations and twin ROV deployment.
Mr Don Lee, Senior General Manager, Jurong Shipyard’s Offshore Division said, “We are honoured that Helix has entrusted us with the construction of this highly specialised deepwater semi-submersible well intervention rig. This rig is Jurong Shipyard’s first specialised platform with well intervention and subsea capabilities and represents a significant advance for us in this growing new market segment. We would like to thank Helix for awarding us this contract, which is a testament to Jurong Shipyard’s rig construction capabilities and versatility in developing purpose-designed solutions for the offshore industry. We are committed to build on this new partnership with Helix and to meet their stringent standards of quality, safety and reliability
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UK: Wellbore Clean Up Specialist Eyes Turnover Increase
Aberdeen-based oilfield services firm Coretrax Technology Limited has secured over £1.2million of contracts since the start of the year and expanded its team to 12 people.
Coretrax specialises in innovative oilfield services to the completion, cementing, abandonment and wellbore clean up sectors both in the North Sea and globally. The contract wins are for projects in the North Sea utilising Coretrax’s innovative wellbore clean up tools and chemicals.
The team in Aberdeen has also expanded with the appointment of a new business development manager and offshore supervisor both bringing many years of oil industry experience to the company. Coretrax plans to recruit a further 6-8 new staff in 2012 including a second graduate in design engineering.
Kenny Murray, director and founder of Coretrax, said: “We have had a really promising start to the year and I’m delighted with the new members who have joined the Coretrax team. Our focus this year is continual R&D to expand our range of products and services to provide solutions to operators with our team of engineers globally.
“Our innovative approach to wellbore clean up has also led to successful projects globally and we are completing successful contracts in Africa, Middle East and Asia. We will continue to expand both internationally and in the North Sea with on-going recruitment and new premises this year.”
Formed in 2008, Coretrax is a finalist in the ‘new idea’ category of SPE’s Offshore Achievement Awards taking place in Aberdeen this month. The company forecasts a turnover of £3million this year.
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UK: Red Spider Reduces Risk
Red Spider, the Remote Open Close Technology specialist delivering multi-million pound savings and reduced risk to the oil & gas industry, has completed its biggest-ever deal with work valued at £1.5million to supply new products for well completion operations.
The agreement involves Red Spider supplying eRED-FB products, with deployment scheduled for this Summer in the UK North Sea.
The eRED-FBs will be used for a series of subsea dual ESP (Electric Submersible Pump) wells and will allow the removal of all wireline runs from the completions operations.
Red Spider’s UK sales manager Andy Skinner said: “We are very excited about the technology and believe it takes our ROCT products to the next level, offering unparalleled savings and risk reduction.’’
eRED, Red Spider’s first tool to use its patented ROCT for remotely operating downhole valves, has been used by more than 20 operators resulting in significant risk reduction and maximising production time by removing wireline runs from operations. The technology is on its way to becoming the industry standard solution for various downhole applications.
The valve has allowed major operators to save more than £300,000 during a single subsea completion operation, typically reducing slickline runs from 8 to 1. In deepwater workover operations, savings of up to 36 hours and £500,000 have also been recorded in a single job, as well as major reductions in risk.
It quickly became apparent from the eRED’s continuing success that there were other potential applications for ROCT in the completion of wells. Further customer requests led to nearly £2million of investment and over two years of extensive research and development work, which has resulted in products including the eRED-FB.
eRED-FB valves provide a downhole barrier that can be opened and closed by remote command, allowing the tubing integrity to be tested without using conventional plug and prong equipment. This eliminates the need to deploy traditional wireline methods which results in the following benefits:
• removing the requirement for rigging-up and rigging-down wireline units
• speeding up operations
• reducing risk to personnel and equipment
• reducing the risk of exposure to bad weather
• delivering savings of between 32 to 38 hours (£400,000 to £500,000)
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Mar 22, 2012 – Salamander Energy has contracted the ENSCO 53 (350??? ILC) jackup to commence a four-well drilling program for License B8/38 offshore Thailand. The company will initially drill two development wells followed by exploratory drilling in May. The license houses the Bualuang oil field in 197 feet (60 meters) of water.
Mar 21, 2012 – Nido Petroleum announced that fabrication and installation of the turret mooring and riser system for Phase II of the Galoc field was progressing on schedule with production expected to resume at the end of 1Q 2012. Furthermore, the FEED for Phase II is being performed as planned and remains on track for FID in 2012.
Mar 16, 2012 – Santos has found a new gas reservoir through well Sangu-11 in the Sangu area with about 66 feet (20 meters) of good-quality gas pay. The well will be completed and tied into the Sangu facilities. The operator is continuing to assess the volumes and flow potential of the reservoir. After completing Sangu-11, the Seadrill jackup Offshore Resolute (350??? ILC) will be demobilized. Sangu-11 was the final well in a three-well drilling campaign in Block 16 PSC that commenced in September 2011. The first well, South Sangu-4, found gas in one target but was unable to add further reserves due to encountering anomalously high formation pressure, and had to be abandoned prior to reaching its primary objective. The second well, NE Sangu-1 drilled in December 2011, failed to encounter commercial hydrocarbons and was also abandoned.
Mar 20, 2012 – FMC Technologies has signed an agreement with Statoil for the manufacture and supply of subsea production equipment to support the Fram H-Nord development. The scope of work includes one subsea production tree, one manifold and one multiphase meter. Deliveries are expected to occur throughout 2013.
Mar 16, 2012 – Trap Oil will acquire a 15 percent working interest in the Athena oil field from Dyas UK Limited, subject to DECC and Dyas partners’ approvals. The effective date for the transaction is Jan. 1, 2012. Ithaca Energy is the operator and currently holds a 22.5 percent stake in the block. Following completion of the acquisition, the remaining equity holders will be Dyas, the largest equity holder with 32.5%, EWE Energie AG with 20% and Zeus Petroleum with the remaining 10%. The field will be developed via four existing production wells and one water-injection well tied to a stand-alone FPSO, the BW Athena vessel. The vessel is expected to arrive at the Athena location this month and, since the majority of the subsea elements for the field have already been installed, all of the production wells are ready for hook-up.
Mar 22, 2012 – Woodside’s Pluto LNG project has reached ready for start-up and first gas has entered the processing train. First production of LNG will take place in the coming weeks, followed by deliveries to foundation customers and project participants Kansai Electric and Tokyo Gas. The initial phase of the Pluto LNG project comprises an offshore platform in 279 feet (85 meters) of water, connected to five subsea wells on the Pluto gas field. Gas will be piped through a 112-mile (180-kilometer) trunkline to an onshore facility.
Mar 21, 2012 – Woodside reported that the Vincent field has produced roughly 27 MMbbl of oil since start-up in 2008, with 2011 production around 8.5 MMbbl. In September 2011, the company boosted Vincent???s overall production rate with two infill wells (VNB-H5 and VNB-H6) coming online. This resulted in the Ngujima-Yin FPSO achieving its highest production rate of almost 53,000 bopd. Woodside will complete a third infill well at Vincent, VNB-H7, and bring it online in 1H 2012.
Mar 16, 2012 – Santos has shut-down production at its Mutineer-Exeter oil field due to the approaching Severe Tropical Cyclone Lua. Mutineer-Exeter’s floating production storage and offloading vessel was disconnected March 15 and has been sailing to avoid the cyclone since then, a Santos spokesman said in a statement.
Mar 16, 2012 – INPEX has agreed to acquire a 17.5 percent participating interest in the Prelude FLNG project from Shell. This transaction is pending necessary governmental approval. The Prelude FLNG project is located in WA-44-L, approximately 295 miles (475 kilometers) north-northeast of Broome, off the coast of Western Australia. The project includes the Prelude and Concerto gas fields. These fields will be developed utilizing a FLNG facility and will produce at least 3.6 million tonnes per annum of LNG, along with 0.4 million tonnes per annum of liquefied petroleum gas and approximately 36,000 bopd of condensate at peak.
Mar 21, 2012 – The Chinese Government’s State Oceanic Administration has approved the Environmental Impact Assessment for the Beibu Gulf project, which compromises the development of the WZ 6-12 and WZ 12-8 west oil fields located in the South China Sea. This approval allows the company to commence offshore development activities on the project. Subject to final approval, onshore fabrication activities are ongoing and offshore pipeline installation is anticipated to commence during March. On completion of platform installation during 1H 2012, drilling activity is expected to start mid-year and will include four exploration/appraisal wells, which will be followed by the development drilling program. The operator anticipates first oil production from the Beibu Gulf project by the end of 2012 with full-field peak production anticipated by 2013.
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