WATCH: Well-Safe Solutions rig wraps up first saturation dives in firm’s history while working on North Sea decom gig

Aberdeen-based decommissioning services provider Well-Safe Solutions has tucked a new achievement under its belt, thanks to one of its rigs, which has set a seal on the first saturation dives in the company’s history while working for Repsol Sinopec Resources UK Limited in the North Sea.

Well-Safe Solutions recently informed through its social media channels that the Well-Safe Guardian had completed the first saturation dives in the firm’s history. According to the Aberdeen-based player, three divers navigated the diving bell and seabed at 117 meters depth two weeks ago, as work on the second phase of well decommissioning at the Buchan and Hannay fields for Repsol Sinopec got underway.
 
“The Well-Safe Guardian is the only semi-submersible of its type in the North Sea fitted with a D300 saturation dive system and Trendsetter Engineering, Inc. Trident modular intervention technology. This pairing makes the rig the ideal partner for well P&A activity on aging or fragile well stock, especially those unsuited for manipulation by ROVs. Congratulations to everyone involved in this milestone in Well-Safe Solutions’ history and thank you for your continuing hard work,” highlighted Well-Safe Solutions.

The company bought the semi-submersible rig Ocean Guardian from Diamond Offshore back in 2019 with plans to convert it into a bespoke plug and abandonment (P&A) unit, renaming it into Well-Safe Guardian. In the years that followed, the rig was modernized, refurbished, and reconfigured exclusively for P&A scopes.

Saturation diving from Well-Safe Guardian

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Ahead of the rig’s decommissioning campaigns in the UK North Sea, Vysus Group’s ModuSpec was chosen in December 2021 to verify whether the Well-Safe Guardian and its upgrades were fit for purpose. Well-Safe was awarded a contract by Repsol Sinopec for decommissioning 14 subsea wells in the Hannay and Buchan fields in September 2021. This was considered the first fully inclusive well decommissioning contract of its kind.

The decommissioning activities in the Buchan and Hannay fields started in 2017 with the off-station and onshore recycling of the Buchan Alpha platform, which was completed at Dales Voe in Lerwick Shetland. The platform ceased production as planned in 2017 – after 36 years and almost 150 mm barrels of oil produced. The decommissioning and recycling of the Buchan and Hannay subsea infrastructure started with pre-works in 2019 and the completion of the scope was expected to be finished by 4Q 2021.

The Buchan field spans blocks 20/5a and 21/1 and is located around 154 km northeast of Aberdeen and about 103 km from the UK/Norwegian median line in a water depth of approximately 115 m. The field was discovered in 1974 and the first oil was achieved in May 1981. On the other hand, the Hannay field, which spans block 20/5c, was discovered in 1996 and commenced production in 2002. The field is located around 13.5 km northwest of the Buchan template in a water depth of about 123 m.

Well-Safe Solutions secured a global master agreement with BP last month for well engineering and decommissioning support services. Prior to this, the firm inked an agreement with Spirit Energy to add a well to the existing scope for the Well-Safe Defender semi-submersible rig.

The decommissioning player also recently disclosed its expansion into CCUS projects and the appointment of Alexa Duncan as the company’s first-ever energy transition manager.