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Gulf of Mexico: InterMoor Completes Heave-Compensation Job in U.S. GoM
InterMoor, an Acteon company, has successfully completed a contract with Cross Group, Inc. that included the provision of heave-compensation services for the installation of a Cross 7.0 workover riser package (WRP).
An InterMoor compensated anchor-handler subsea installation method (CASIM) unit played a key role in deploying and recovering the WRP.
“The CASIM system enabled us to provide effective heave compensation and to recover the delicate WRP on a vessel without an active heave-compensated crane or stern roller,” said InterMoor vice president of business development David Cobb. “That was the only way to achieve the WRP installation from this vessel. The success of this project underlines the value of the CASIM system as a cost- and time-effective solution, and explains why more and more subsea contractors and operators are choosing it to facilitate the installation of workover packages.”
Each standard CASIM unit has a maximum stroke of 3 meters and can accommodate loads up to 50 tons.
The heave compensation operation was in water depths of about 140 meters and used Cal Dive’s Uncle John DP saturation diving vessel to install the 29-ton WRP. The project took place at East Cameron well 378#3, offshore Louisiana, USA. The Cross Group is conducting a plugging and abandonment (P&A) program in the field for EPL Oil & Gas, Inc.
This project demonstrates how InterMoor can provide cost-effective solutions for the installation of subsea workover equipment using vessels of opportunity. Operators trust InterMoor to be part of their P&A campaigns and to help them meet BOEMRE NTL No. 2010-G05 requirements for timely decommissioning of idle infrastructure on active leases.
Dragon’s Caspian Well Flows at 1,462 BOPD (Turkmenistan)
Dragon Oil plc, an international oil and gas exploration, development and production company, today publishes the results of successful completion and initial testing for the Dzheitune (Lam) A/176 development well.
The Dzheitune (Lam) A/176 well was completed as a single producer to a depth of 1,786 metres. The well tested at an initial production rate of 1,462 barrels of oil per day; deeper sections will be targeted when this well is deepened in the future. The jack-up rig has moved to the next slot and is currently drilling the Dzheitune (Lam) A/177 development well.
Dragon’s Caspian Well Flows at 1,462 BOPD (Turkmenistan)| Offshore Energy Today.
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Brazil: InterMoor Completes Conductors for Papa Terra Project
InterMoor, an Acteon company, has completed installation of the drilling and production conductors for the Papa Terra project, announced Global President Tom Fulton. Petrobras serves as the operator of the Papa Terra concession with a 62.5 percent interest; Chevron holds the remaining 37.5 percent interest.
InterMoor was responsible for the design, procurement, fabrication and installation of 15 conductors for the project. Fabricated at InterMoor’s 24-acre, Morgan City, La., facility, the conductors are 36 inches (91 centimeters) in diameter and 187 feet (57 meters) long.
InterMoor chartered the Skandi Skolten, DOF Subsea’s Construction Anchor Handling Vessel, and the installation barge with a customized conductor launch system. For conductor driving, InterMoor used MENCK’s MHU-270T DWS which included a deepwater hydraulic hammer capable of providing a driving energy of 270 kilojoules at a water depth of 3,281 feet (1000 meters) combined with MENCK’s girdle-type electro-hydraulic power pack and umbilical support system. Generating hydraulic power at depth, rather than at the surface, means no hydraulic hose, therefore minimalizing environmental impact and energy loss.
The conductors were installed in water depths of 3,937 feet (1,200 meters) in the southern Campos Basin off the coast of Brazil. The installation took place in April 2012. InterMoor’s conductor services optimize conductor design to meet project-specific load and fatigue requirements, and the unique patented installation method allows installation without the need of a construction vessel. A standard Anchor Handling Vessel is sufficient, leading to a more economical installation off the rig’s critical path.
“We are proud to have successfully completed this important installation for Petrobras and to be part of the first offshore tension-leg, wellhead platform in Brazil,” said Fulton. “Our collaboration with sister company MENCK proved to be an effective partnership, and InterMoor remains the only company worldwide to offer a full conductor installation service in deep water.”
“InterMoor has been developing its strength in the Brazil market through our office in Rio de Janeiro, and this project completion confirms the breadth of our capabilities in the region,” added John Riggs, Managing Director for InterMoor do Brasil.
Subsea World News – InterMoor Completes Conductors for Papa Terra Project (Brazil).
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WWCS, DOF Subsea Conduct Subsea Services in US Gulf Of Mexico
Wright’s Well Control Services (WWCS) completed a riserless subsea plug & abandonment (P&A) using tubing to pull out of the hole from a Multi-Service Vessel (MSV) in 1,250’ WD in the Gulf of Mexico. DOF Subsea USA provided marine and subsea services. New tools where custom engineered specifically for this project and successfully deployed.
One of the initial challenges addressed by the WWCS team was the one-of-a-kind tree found at the site with an annulus monitoring valve at a 35° angle. After finding no Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) tooling on the market offering the ability to nipple down and up on a subsea flange, WWCS designed and built a new torque tool. The new tool unbolted the flange and bolted in a new flange with a 2” hot stab.
The next step was to design and build a hydraulic connector that would allow WWCS to pull away from a section that might have issues while leaving a modified Tree Running Tool (TRT) subsea. This connector was designed to engage and disengage a subsea Blowout Preventer (BOP) and lubricator for additional barriers as needed without time consuming trips to the surface to add and remove the TRT.
WWCS also modified a Tubing Hanger Pulling Tool (THPT) to pull tubing with a crane subsea. The tubing was removed with a bull string on the deck of the MSV with a ROV for guidance as the segments where pulled out one at a time. One of the MSV’s moonpools was used to run the coil string and the umbilical while tubing and casing were pulled from a secondary moonpool.
Steps in the plug & abandonment procedure included: setting six (6) 16.4 ppg Class H neat cement plugs, setting three (3) Cast Iron Bridge Plugs (CIBP), cutting and pulling 37 joints of 3½” tubing, cutting and pulling 750′ of 9⅝” casing, cutting and pulling 13⅜” casing, cutting and pulling 20″ x 30″ casing with a mechanical cutter below mudline (bml), flushing a 6″ pipeline of 3890 barrels (bbls) of fluid with a modified 4” connector, recovering the umbilical tension assembly (UTA) and pipeline end manifold (PLEM), and setting a modified plumbers plug and submar mats on the lines.
“This project was a great success for everyone involved at Wright’s Well Control Services,” said WWCS president David Wright. “In 30 days we successfully executed a very challenging subsea P&A utilizing four new subsea tools including a jumper to flush the pipeline that we designed and built while on location. I’m proud of our crew and support staff. The techniques and tools deployed on this job may change how subsea P&As are conducted going forward.”
“It was great to work with WWCS on this innovative subsea P&A project,” said Brent Boyce, vice president of operations at DOF Subsea USA. “The new tooling designed to flange and re-flange the subsea annulus monitoring system interfaced perfectly with our ROVs. We were able to remove and reinstall the device even at 35 to 45° angle.”
Wright’s Well Control Services offers comprehensive surface and subsea offshore services for clients in the Gulf of Mexico. Wright’s specializes in cost effective rigless applications including patent-pending hydrate remediation, subsea BOP and plug & abandonment technologies. WWCS was founded in 2006 by David Wright who has 25 years of offshore and onshore engineering experience including work at Halliburton, The Red Adair Company and ATP. Wright’s is a privately held company employing 75 people with corporate offices in Humble (Houston), Texas and an operations facility is Lake Charles, Louisiana.
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USA: ConocoPhillips Completes Spinoff of Its Downstream Business
ConocoPhillips announced that it has completed the spinoff of its downstream businesses to its stockholders. With the completion of this transaction, ConocoPhillips is the world’s largest independent exploration and production (E&P) company, based on proved reserves and production of liquids and natural gas.
“ConocoPhillips will truly be unique as an independent E&P company. Our unmatched size, scope and capability position us to compete successfully in this business,” said Ryan Lance, chairman and chief executive officer. “With an exclusive focus on exploration and production, we will pursue opportunities and take actions to create value for all our stakeholders. We will emphasize execution and operations excellence, the principles that made us what we are today and that will shape the ConocoPhillips of tomorrow.”
ConocoPhillips benefits from more than a century of experience and success achieved by its predecessor companies. The company has a presence and capability in key technology-driven resource opportunities globally. Among these are conventional and unconventional reservoirs, oil sands and heavy-oil deposits, liquefied natural gas, and deepwater and Arctic operations.
“As we move forward with today’s strong base, our vision is to pioneer a new standard of E&P excellence,” Lance said. “ConocoPhillips has always placed safety, health and environmental stewardship first, and this will not change. In addition, we have an unprecedented opportunity to unlock potential by combining the legacy of our world-class workforce, asset base, technical capability and financial capacity with the focus and culture of an independent company. We believe this will allow us to create value for all our stakeholders and deliver a compelling formula of profitable growth, strong financial returns and a sector-leading dividend.”
To effect the spinoff, ConocoPhillips stockholders received one share of Phillips 66 common stock for every two shares of ConocoPhillips common stock held on the record date of April 16, 2012. Phillips 66 is now an independent, publicly traded company in which ConocoPhillips retains no ownership interest.
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USA: Anadarko Completes Heidelberg Sidetrack Appraisal Well
Anadarko Petroleum Corporation today announced the Heidelberg sidetrack appraisal well in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico successfully confirmed an extension of up to 1,500 acres.
“The Heidelberg sidetrack appraisal well was successfully drilled and defined the down-dip limits of the Heidelberg field,” said Chuck Meloy, Anadarko Sr. Vice President, Worldwide Operations. “This well extends the oil/water contact down structure by approximately 700 feet, and continues to validate the field’s estimated resource range, while providing support for the option of a stand-alone development. Anadarko and Heidelberg’s co-owners have initiated pre-FEED (front-end engineering and design) work to evaluate development solutions with the objective of advancing commercialization of this emerging mega project.”
The Heidelberg sidetrack appraisal well in Green Canyon block 903 is located approximately 1.3 miles from the Heidelberg discovery well. The well was drilled to a total depth of approximately 30,440 feet in water depths of approximately 5,260 feet.
Anadarko operates Green Canyon block 903 with a 44.25-percent working interest. Co-owners in the block include Apache Deepwater LLC, a subsidiary of Apache Corporation (12.5 percent), Eni (12.5 percent), Statoil (12 percent), ExxonMobil (9.375 percent) and Cobalt International Energy, L.P. (9.375 percent).
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Australia: Shell Completes Tortilla Survey
Octanex has been advised by Shell Development (Australia) Pty Ltd (Shell) that it has completed acquisition of the new Tortilla 2D seismic survey in the WA-385-P permit.
The Tortilla survey is a relatively small 783 km 2D marine seismic survey that fulfils the final work commitment for the WA-385-P permit in the current term. It was acquired off the North West Cape of Western Australia, largely within the area of the WA-385-P permit.
The survey also acquired ‘tie lines’ between the planned location for the Palta-1 well (to be drilled in the WA-384-P permit to the north) and previously drilled wells Herdsman-1 and Pendock-1A to the south and Falcone-1A to the north-east.
The acquisition of the Tortilla 2D survey was timed to avoid the humpback whale migration and took place over the last 10 days of March. As part of a range of management measures, Shell elected that the seismic survey would not come within a 10 km buffer zone to the outer boundary of the Ningaloo World Heritage Area.
Shell has committed to drill the Palta-1 exploration well in the WA-384-P permit and has received environmental approval for the drilling operations. The WA-384-P permit is adjacent to WA-385-P where the Tortilla 2D seismic survey was acquired.
Shell has advised that drilling operations on Palta-1 are being planned for Q3 2012, subject to their receiving all required regulatory approvals. The well is to be drilled in water depths of approximately 1350m and to a total depth of 5325m – 5675m. The Octanex Group originally held 100% of the WA-384-P, WA-385-P and WA-394-P permits that are located in the southern Exmouth Sub-basin.
In 2008, Octanex concluded an agreement with Shell for the disposition of a 100% working interest in each of the three permits. Octanex holds residual rights in each of the permits in the form of discovery payments and a 1% royalty over any production from the permits, as well as rights of re- conveyance.
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Murphy Oil Malaysia Completes Rigless Intervention Campaign Using Welltec Services
Murphy Oil Malaysia recently completed a highly successful, rigless intervention campaign using Welltec services. Not only did the operation allow immediate production from a “lost” well, but it also saved the time and cost of a rig based sidetrack. The end result is expected to add 20 MMscf/d into the production portfolio.
In the first well, the drift run hung up at 945 ft MD when trying to perforate the well. Based on previous experience, the cause was suspected to be part of a cement wiper plug. This was pushed down to a nipple profile at 4,314 ft MD, leaving it still 1,690 ft above the perforation depth. After only minutes of milling, the Well Miller made it through the plug, which allowed the Well Tractor® to push it down to 6,398 ft MD, approximately 380 ft below the target perforation interval. Thereafter the well was perforated and put on production.
In the second well, a poor cement job had made the primary target zone inaccessible and left an obstruction inside the tubing. With pressing rig commitments there was insufficient time to fix the problem, leaving the well temporarily abandoned and a candidate for future sidetracking. Based on the success of the first well, the Well Tractor and Well Miller were used to push the obstruction from 400 ft to 2,132 ft MD , meeting the objective to prepare the well for sidetracking.
However, it was decided to attempt to push the obstruction as far as possible. Using the Well Tractor and Well Miller the well was cleared well beyond the sidetrack target depth to an eventual Hold Up Depth of 8,743 ft MD. Getting this far down the production string allowed access to two of the three reservoirs in this well, which could now be completed for production rather than scheduled for a sidetrack workover.
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