Well-Safe Solutions secures $33.6 million investment

Well abandonment services provider Well-Safe Solutions has secured a £26 million ($33.6 million) investment to fund the next phase of the company’s growth plan.

Well-Safe said on Monday that the further investment into the decommissioning company was led by MW&L Capital Partners, following their initial investment of $85 million to the company back in October 2019.

Phil Milton, the chief executive officer (CEO) at Well-Safe Solutions, said: “This significant investment will help the company continue to deliver the growth and vision of the business in becoming a globally recognised Tier 1 well decommissioning company.

“With the continued support of MW&L and existing shareholders, including the direct investment clients of Stonehage Fleming, we’ll be bringing the Well-Safe Guardian and Well-Safe Protector into operation in the spring of 2021 and aim to add further assets to our growing fleet – supporting our campaign-based approach to decommissioning”.

MW&L is a private investment vehicle providing flexible, long term capital to grow businesses. Julian Metherell, partner at MW&L and non-executive director at Well-Safe Solutions, added: “Our initial investment with Well-Safe aimed to capitalise on the opportunity of an experienced team with dedicated decommissioning capability willing to tackle one of the industry’s greatest challenges with massive global potential.

“With their recent purchase of the Well-Safe Protector jack-up drilling unit (formerly known as the West Epsilon), the acquisition in 2019 of the Well-Safe Guardian semi-sub (previously named the Ocean Guardian), and a complete P&A capability, they are poised to tackle the industry challenges head-on”.

The Well-Safe Protector was bought from Seadrill while the Well-Safe Guardian was bought from Diamond Offshore.

Well-Safe was launched in 2017 to provide a ground-breaking approach to safe and cost-efficient decommissioning and currently employs 80 staff with 50 based in Aberdeen and 30 offshore.

As a specialist well decommissioning company it allows operators to meet the challenges and regulatory requirements around decommissioning, while significantly reducing costs.