Norwegian ocean services provider DeepOcean and Aberdeen-based well management firm Exceed Energy have entered into a collaboration agreement to supply vessel-based well plug and abandonment (P&A) services. These will be offered to the decommissioning market globally.
The partners are planning to offer a single contract, turnkey P&A service that will include equipment, planning, execution and close-out. They also intend for the service to include a full audit trail in an effort to ensure optimum repurposing and re-use of retrieved assets.
The companies said the partnership would combine DeepOcean’s subsea engineering expertise and fleet of work-class remotely operated vehicles (WROVs) and supporting subsea vessels with Exceed’s well decommissioning know-how.
“Compared to rig-based P&A, we believe this partnership can deliver significant time and cost benefits to operators’ decommissioning projects,” said DeepOcean Europe’s managing director, Olaf Hansen.
“Our complementary service offering has already proven that it can provide a comprehensive, best-in-class solution to well decommissioning.”
Hansen’s comment referred to the partners’ first collaboration, with them having recently completed a multi-well, vessel-based P&A campaign on behalf of Serica Energy. According to the partners, the campaign resulted in “significant” time and cost savings, as well as reduced carbon dioxide emissions compared with rig-based P&A work.
Exceed commercial director John Anderson, said the two companies would be starting another multi-well campaign – which will also be multi-client – later this year. And DeepOcean UK managing director Robin Mawhinney noted that the partners would build on their first collaborative project with an eye to delivering services both in the North Sea and further afield.
Mermaid
The announcement comes as both the North Sea and global decommissioning markets continue to grow. The UK’s North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) forecast in July that, on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) alone, operators were expected to spend about £24bn on decommissioning over 2023-32. The regulator also warned that the backlog of inactive wells on the UKCS was increasing year on year.
This is expected to be a boon for the providers of decommissioning services. And vessel-based decommissioning services represent an increasingly popular option, given their potential to reduce costs, time and emissions, as well as the additional flexibility they offer.
Indeed, Mermaid Subsea Services said in a separate announcement that it had completed what it believes to be the largest vessel-based UK North Sea decommissioning campaign to date.
Aberdeen-based Mermaid said the project, which it carried out for an unnamed North Sea operator over a two-year period, involved the P&A of 21 wells across the Northern and Central North Sea. The multi-well campaign, carried out using the Island Valiant vessel, also represents the company’s largest contract to date.
“This has been a landmark project, not just for Mermaid but also for the wider North Sea decommissioning sector,” stated Mermaid’s regional director, Scott Cormack.
“Well P&A is the single biggest cost, most time demanding, and incredibly technically challenging element of any campaign. Efficient and effective operations can have a big impact on the North Sea’s overall decommissioning cost,” he added.
“Mermaid’s vessel-based P&A approach offers clients real agility and flexibility, ensuring that projects can be delivered on time and on budget.”
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