Offshore staff
ABERDEEN, UK – Deep Casing Tools (DCT) claims its new Casing Cement Breaker (CCB) tool, developed in collaboration with the Oil and Gas Technology Centre (OGTC) and Total, could make well P&A operations more predictable and reliable.
Current technologies such as cut and pull, perforate and wash, and section milling, are said to create significant challenges, with 20% of all pulling operations reportedly take longer and costing more than anticipated.
According to David Stephenson, DCT’s chief executive, early trials with the CCB have proven that up to 90% less force is required to pull a casing.
“One company told me they are currently taking up to 70 days to cut and pull some casing in the Norwegian North Sea.
“It is too early to say how much we could reduce that by, although we hope it will ultimately be 90%, but even if it were only 10% that would be a huge reduction given rig rates of up to £350,000/d [$428,000/d].”
After developing the concept and performing workshop tests, the company constructed a larger workshop prototype and approached the OGTC for assistance.
This led to funding from both the OGTC and Total, and the tool will be trialled early next year on wells in Total’s Alwyn and Franklin fields in the UK North Sea.
The goal is for the system to be fully commercial by the end of 2020.
Stephenson added that Equinor also undertook a trial in the Huldra field in the North Sea, using the workshop prototype, and the results confirmed the system’s potential.
“It reduced the force required to pull a piece of casing by about 40%, which would mean a 10-day job would take six days.”
10/09/2019
