Oceaneering readies for annual subsea wellhead removal ops

Oceaneering has chartered the anchor handling tug supply vessel (AHTS) Island Valiant for subsea wellhead removal operations in the Barents Sea, Norwegian Sea, and the North Sea.

The operations are part of the company’s annual multi-client Rig Chase campaign, a vessel-based wellhead removal program said to reduce decommissioning expenditure by using a cost-effective vessel instead of a rig.

According to Oceaneering, the wellhead removal operations will be carried out with an abrasive waterjet cutting (AWJC) tool. The deepest well is located at 450m water depth.

Upon completing the Rig Chase, the company plans to install a pipe handling tower to continue with surface plug and abandonment of Mudline Suspension wells in the southern North Sea.

The estimated campaign duration is four weeks.

In the company-related news, this August, Oceaneering secured a contract with ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) to provide two surveys offshore Guyana.

Under the contract, the company was hired for a towed and autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) geophysical survey and a shallow geotechnical survey.