Conductor design cuts rig time for offshore Australia HP/HT well

Offshore staff

STAVANGER, Norway – A joint Australian/Norwegian venture has installed and recovered CAN-ductor (Conductor Anchor Node suction pile with integrated conductor) well foundation for a deepwater exploration well offshore Western Australia.

The equipment was used for and retrieved fromWoodside Energy’s Ferrand-1 deepwater exploration well in the Carnarvon basin.

It was designed, installed, and recovered by Neodrill AS and ICON Engineering Pty using a Siem Offshore anchor handling tug in a water depth of 1,492 m (4,895 ft).

The CAN-ductor replaced the conventional well conductor casing and is said to have provided significant additional structural capacity for the high-pressure/high-temperature well which was drilled in relatively weak soil.

Its use cut the number of rig days that the traditional method of installing the surface conductor and wellhead would have incurred, the partners claimed, also eliminated the safety risk of lifting and landing numerous joints of heavy conductor.

Recovery of the CAN after completion of the well allows for its re-use in other wells.

The 16-m (52-ft) tall, 6-m (20-ft) dia. CAN-ductor had been pre-installed in February in preparation for the semisubmersible drilling rig’s arrival in April to begin drilling.

The CAN-ductor is also said to allow highly deviated wells to be drilled to develop shallow reservoirs.

11/19/2018