Decom North Sea Awards Finalists

Following the success of last year's inaugural event, the Decom North Sea Awards is returning for its second year this week. The only industry awards to be dedicated to decommissioning excellence, the event recognises the efforts of Decom North Sea members to innovate and collaborate within the sector. A new award for 2019 will commend a Young Decommissioning Professional for their work in the field. 

Winners will be announced at the Decom North Sea Awards Dinner, taking place the evening of Tuesday 28 May 2019 (the evening prior to Decom Offshore 2019), at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre.

Outstanding Innovation Finalists

The Decom North Sea Outstanding Innovation Award will be presented to a company that has developed an innovative solution to a late life or decommissioning problem or project, which has brought forward tangible results.

Deep Casing Tools

At Deep Casing Tools, they recognise the growing importance of well abandonment and slot recovery in this industry – and the fact that current efforts to carry out these operations are being hampered by the capability of conventional tools. Against this background, their pioneering solution, the Casing Cement Breaker, has been designed to make casing recovery from problematic wells more efficient and therefore more cost-effective.

The Casing Cement Breaker is an industry first and has already been deployed in a commercial field on the UKCS. It uses simple pressure and rotation to manipulate the existing casing strings, breaking down the bond between cement and casing.

This makes it easier to remove the casing quickly and efficiently. In fact, early results show that up to 90% less force is required to pull a casing following a Casing Cement Breaker run.

The Casing Cement Breaker was developed to enhance current offerings such as cut and pull, and perf and wash, and to reduce trips in and out of the hole.

Sentinel Subsea

The long-term integrity of suspended or abandoned well barriers is a critical component of the late life and decommissioning process, affecting the oil and gas industry, environmental organisations and other industries operating within the North Sea.

The ramifications of a leak – whether from a suspended or abandoned well – can be described in three broad terms; financial, environmental and reputational.

Sentinel Subsea has created a revolutionary, environmentally-friendly well integrity monitoring system with the potential to significantly reduce the consequences of an undetected leak. Adoption of the technology will also make a huge contribution to the OGA’s 35% cost-reduction target. The environmental assurance provided will, in turn, assist in the quest to provide quantifiable data for insurance purposes.

A Scottish Enterprise High Growth Ventures company, Sentinel has also secured OGTC funding to build verification systems for on-shore and offshore trials. Working with Heriot-Watt University to research, develop and validate its technology, Sentinel has confirmed the inaugural technology field trial will take place in the North Sea during Q3, 2019 for a large independent operator.

Ecosse-IP Ltd (EIP)

Ecosse-IP Ltd (EIP) is an innovative provider of tooling and solutions for challenging offshore installation requirements in the decommissioning sector. The company designs, develops and supplies a range of subsea technology, which is incorporated into fully integrated solutions to address offshore challenges.

The EIP patented Ambient Lifter uses technology that is a safe, robust and highly controllable subsea lifting solution offering a cost-effective alternative to the use of surface-lift vessels.

The system can be used standalone or as part of an end-to-end subsea lifting solution across a range of applications including oil and gas, subsea construction and decommissioning among other sectors.

Designed and engineered for subsea lifting, the Ambient Lifter can be deployed with remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to multiply their lift capability and can be deployed in different configurations to lift hundreds of thousands of tonnes.

The Ambient Lifter has been designed to provide operators with a cost-effective subsea lifting solution and based on calculations against traditional methods the Ambient Lifter can deliver up to a 40% saving.

In September 2018, Ambient Lifter successfully lifted 5 tonnes from the sea bed and in January 2019 successfully completed a 10-tonne lift.

Excellence in Collaboration Finalists

The Decom North Sea Excellence in Collaboration Award recognises outstanding teamwork which has led to the opportunity to reduce decommissioning costs in the context of MER.

Systems Engineering and Assessment Ltd & Spirit Energy

Systems Engineering and Assessment Ltd (SEA), launched Legacy Locker in 2015 as an umbrella “brand” in response to demanding challenges faced by the industry, and in order to offer a better solution to some of the ongoing problems. Through Legacy Locker it provides a service to address a range of issues that SEA and its clients have experienced in relation to late life support of subsea production controls equipment.

Legacy Locker is not a physical warehouse or store of all the spare parts needed to keep these assets going. It is a range of products, design and manufacturing services, and shared pool of spares can be accessed, modified, and recertified for reuse. One of the main benefits of this is that customers can obtain parts far quicker than if they had to be manufactured from scratch. The more equipment that is available, the more chance they have of being able to satisfy clients’ needs.

The success of Legacy Locker depends on the collaboration of SEA’s clients and partners. A large part of that collaboration is to challenge industry practice and to work together to devise innovative processes and practices, especially in the reuse of decommissioned equipment.

SEA has worked closely with Spirit Energy who supplied them with decommissioned equipment - a unique collaboration that has wider benefits to the industry and the local community. The growth in the decommissioning sector provides SEA with an important source of equipment to fill the Locker. Whilst success is being achieved, there is still a lot more to do to fully exploit this source.

Spirit Energy & The Oil & Gas Technology Centre

A transformational technology which could significantly reduce well decommissioning costs has emerged recently. The technique uses an exothermic chemical reaction, generated using thermite, to melt the wellbore components and the surrounding formation to recreate the cap rock and establish a permanent barrier.

Downhole field trials for technology like this are expensive and relatively time-consuming and prospective users of the method sought ways to accelerate the product development. An approach was made to the service company supplier of the technique to share experience between operators more widely, but they were reluctant to take the lead.

In order to break the impasse Spirit Energy, supported by the Oil & Gas Technology Centre, invited all interested parties to a collaborative meeting. It was a success and a regular series of meetings for sharing the detailed technical aspects of each field trial was established. This has allowed each trial to share common processes and avoid duplication.

By sharing resources and experience between operators, risks have been reduced and the emerging end product is a technique which is market-ready sooner with a standard operational approach which reassures the regulators that the new technique is being appropriately deployed and verified.

Ardent & The Oil & Gas Technology Centre

All stakeholders in the decommissioning sector recognise that through effective collaboration across the value chain, the 35%cost reduction goal the industry aspires to can be attained.

In 2016 and 2017, Ardent was working assiduously on a buoyancy concept for recovering jackets with support from BP and Shell. In 2018, Ardent and the Oil Gas Technology Centre created a jointly funded study team to finalise a design that would be flexible in applicability, be safe and easy to deploy and attain at least a 35% reduction in cost. This concept, called “Archimedes” delivers on all the foregoing metrics.

The rigorous and challenging project execution model utilised by the OGTC, along with their importation of regulators and operators to the process, complemented the innovative design process from Ardent and ensured a cross party buy-in for the concept. As they were attempting a step-change and not an incremental improvement on existing technologies, the key to the collaboration was the starting point of a shared goal and vision which would be clearly articulated in the project charter.

Goals and objectives were schedules and reviewed in an open and transparent way. The silo mentality was avoided by regular dialogue debate and always with a one team ethos.

Ardent and OGTC deployed a short form of project reporting that minimised interface management and ensured clarity of purpose and deliverables status.

Young Professional in Decommissioning Finalists

The Young Professional in Decommissioning award shines a light on a Young Professional (under 35) who has demonstrated significant capability in the decommissioning sector.

Rebecca Allan

After working for three years as a graduate process engineer at Xodus Group, Rebecca made the decision to specialise in decommissioning.

Recently Xodus Group created a Decommissioning division with accountability over project performance, business development and business growth. This gave Rebecca the opportunity to expand her technical capability, gain more of a commercial focus and progress from a junior engineer to a lead role. In her capacity as Decommissioning Lead, she is tasked with overseeing the development of internal tools and striving for innovations which both improve internal efficiencies and benefit clients through improved / new offerings and novel commercial approaches.

Rebecca is also improving her leadership skills by managing live assignments and mentoring more junior professionals. She is actively involved in the Xodus Group IChemE graduate mentoring scheme and is the nominated workplace supervisor for a new industrial placement student.

David Hoang

David has worked in the Bilfinger Decommissioning department for the last six months as a Project Engineer, as part of the graduate training programme. During this time with Bilfinger, David has taken a lead role in key aspects of projects including management of complex ambiguous workscopes, to provide clear and comprehensive project strategy and scope of work instructions. This led to development of optimal project planning and scheduling resulting in cost efficiencies and effective resource deployment.

Although David is in a graduate training role, he has taken on supervisory responsibilities within the project team, ensuring clarity of project requirements and efficient integration into the team of new team members. He has also liaised effectively with specialist discipline colleagues when required.

David has excelled in contractor management and always thinks outside the box to deliver innovative solutions to complex problems, whilst ensuring deliverables are reviewed and tested to satisfy project requirements in a timely manner.

David is a valuable asset to the business and Bilfinger sees David as a key member of its decommissioning department in a career that thus far has been invaluable and will only grow with experience.

Johnny Morton

Johnny began his career with Bilfinger in 2006, in an offshore fabric maintenance training position. He has progressed through several specialist positions, and now holds a pivotal role within the decommissioning department, drawing on his understanding and experience from various disciplines within Bilfinger.

Johnny’s patience and strong work ethic have enabled him to embrace the decommissioning projects that he has worked on, delivering successful completion of all tasks to a high standard. He continues to learn, yet also acts as a mentor to others, and is a highly respected member of the decommissioning team. He is hardworking, with a hands-on attitude, and has continued to progress, building skills and furthering his knowledge through his initial and subsequent roles.

By demonstrating role model behaviours in line with Bilfinger vision and values, Johnny was approached to become an instructor, allowing him to pass on his practical skills. Johnny trained hundreds of colleagues during his time in this role, making a significant contribution to success of the business.

Johnny was promoted in 2017 to an operational role as Technical Support Engineer for Specialist Projects. He drew his experience in training roles and years as an instructor to inform his approach, as an innovative forward thinker.

Johnny’s input has had a significant impact on safety and the quality of work delivered by the team.