EXCEED - Leading the Energy Transformation

2022 has literally been a transformative year for well management specialist, Exceed.

Growth and Recognition

The Aberdeen-headquartered company has reported a 40% growth in revenue during 2022, to £20millon. And as it continues to implement a long-term strategy to diversify and internationalise, Exceed is fast becoming the global leader in integrated well and reservoir management for the Energy Transition, attributing 60% of the year’s revenue to the work it undertakes in decarbonisation.

During 2022, the Exceed team has grown from 60 to 145, leading the company to purchase and redevelop additional premises in the heart of Aberdeen city. That growing team is at the heart of Exceed, which is committed to the development of internal capability and the support of personal and professional employee development. A six-figure investment in its Competency Management System (CMS) has ensured that all employees have appropriate knowledge, skills and behaviours to perform their roles effectively and develop competency skills, with six members of staff currently undertaking a Well Engineering Competence Programme.

2022 has also seen two members of Exceed’s finance team achieve the ACCA accounting qualification, one of the wells team complete their MBA, another their BA in Business Management and earlier in the year, the company’s Legal Counsel completed the globally-recognised Advanced Diploma in International Taxation.

The emphasis Exceed places on its people and their continuous professional development was just one of the reasons it was named the SPE Offshore Achievement Awards “Great Company of the Year” in March 2022.

Operating at the Frontier of the North Sea’s Transition

Exceed’s commitment to the future of the energy industry is absolute. Having continuously expanded its service offering since it was established in 2005, Exceed has continued to evolve and reposition its capabilities to ensure its position as a leader within the Energy Transition. As a result, Exceed’s expertise has been applied to a number of major Energy Transition projects during 2022.

Hydrogen and Carbon Capture and Storage

Working within the Teeside Net Zero Cluster - the driving force behind the UK’s first decarbonised industrial cluster - Exceed has demonstrated its transition credentials within a truly innovative application to reuse and repurpose of the Rough field. Its team of Subsurface experts, headed up by Mark Cullen, has been instrumental in the repurpose of the Rough Bravo field to a hydrogen storage facility by providing critical conceptual work, and frontier leading geo-mechanic and reservoir modelling in conjunction with a number of universities, including the University of Edinburgh, Napier University, the University of Manchester and Heriot-Watt University.

Leading Decommissioning

Having abandoned 143 wells and 12 vessel-based wells to date, Exceed owns the most diverse decommissioning track record within the North Sea. Its well abandonment capability has been honed over the past eight years to create a market-leading decommissioning capability that is trusted by the industry’s biggest names to execute some of the North Sea’s most significant and challenging decommissioning campaigns. This was underlined in 2022 when Exceed’s inaugural appointment as Well Operator was made by Parkmead to steer its first UKCS well decommissioning operation.

During the past 18 months the volume of decommissioning work awarded to Exceed has necessitated the exponential growth of the decom team, which now comprises over 30 decom experts, led by Bart Van de Laar and located in new, dedicated premises within Aberdeen city centre.

A Shift in Status – Well Operatorship

Amongst so many significant announcements during 2022, the company’s official recognition by the UK Regulatory Competent Authority as Well Operator, builds upon its trusted reputation for outstanding results based on effective, pragmatic project management.

As outsourced Well Operator, Exceed’s capabilities include:

• Capability to be Well Operator throughout the well life cycle
• Cloud-based Well Integrity Management system: digital twin of the well
• Experience in Appendix C Well Operator submissions
• Corporate major accident prevention policy
• Safety, Environmental, Management System (SEMS) commensurate with a licence operator
• Competence Management System commensurate with a licence operator
• Emergency response provision commensurate with a licence operator
• Scheme of well examination
• Accountability and responsibility for all regulatory permitting
• Energy Transition ESG strategy
• Inspected by the relevant competent authorities

Disruptive, Collaborative – a Blueprint for Vessel-Based P&A

In 2022, Exceed’s depth of decommissioning best practice led it to create a disruptive, collaborative vessel-based decommissioning solution, leading to the award of its largest vessel-based well P&A campaign to date. With mobilisation/demobilisation accounting for a third of the total well P&A cost, the approach - which is focused upon the reduction of CO2 - has been lauded across the North Sea industry for minimising the environmental impact of multiple, separate campaigns. Initially based on a 10 well, four operator campaign, 2023’s campaign is currently set to comprise 20+ wells.

Well Managed: Leading the Energy Transformation

Maximising clients’ economic recovery factor plays a critical role in Exceed’s commitment to a sustainable energy transition, and 2022 has seen the company continue to undertake a range of UK and international projects for clients including Serica, RSUK, Serica Energy, Anasuria Hibiscus UK, Anasuria Operating Company and Ping Petroleum.

A World First – Carbon Offset Well Operations

Following a strategy to eliminate or reduce a drilling project’s direct emissions where possible, Exceed provides the option for remaining emissions to be appropriately offset. A key objective is to manage and deliver improvement in its clients’ and sub-contractors’ ESG credentials, whilst ensuring its own business operations work towards achieving net zero emissions. Leading by example, Exceed incentivises sub-contractors’ energy efficiency via the contracting strategy, the design, execution and logistics management.

As a result of this commitment, Exceed drilled the world’s first carbon offset well in late 2021, for which it was awarded the coveted Offshore Network OWI Award for “Environmental Sustainability Innovation”, in November 2022.

Growth of International Wells Market

Exceed’s global activity has continued to grow during 2022, with several international operations currently in the select planning phase for a multi-well campaign in West Africa (Namibia, Angola, Guinea Bissau), a return to the Black Sea, and operations in Kazakhstan and Mexico.

Managed Pressure Drilling

Acquired by Exceed in 2019, Exceed Managed Pressure Resources continues a trend of doubling its growth, year on year. Active across the UKCS and internationally, and having planned and executed a total of 55 wells, the team, which was awarded a global master call off contract by Repsol in 2022, has become renowned across the industry for its active development of clients’ internal competence in managed pressure drilling concepts, techniques and operational execution.

Performing at the Highest Level

With its roots in Performance Improvement, Exceed has continued to transform clients’ operations via its unique, continuous improvement process. Led by Tim Wigham, Exceed PI has maintained and built upon long-term client partnerships during 2022 with operators including RSUK, Neptune Energy UK, Serica Energy UK, TotalEnergies and Sasol Mozambique.

Not only has Exceed PI increased its international footprint during the year, adding Mexico and Kurdistan to the countries in which it is active, but has also diversified its client base, transferring operations excellence beyond energy into additional sectors, with clients including Airbus Helicopters.

Looking ahead

From continued well operations and innovative decommissioning commercial models, to the launch of a new overseas entity and supporting the UK’s hydrogen storage strategy, 2023 will see Exceed continue to lead the global wells energy transition from the front, with a 100% commitment to a sustainable lower carbon energy future.

EXCEED is the largest independent well management company and our mission is to maximise the recovery factor, managing the productive life of our clients’ wells whilst enabling the energy transition to Carbon Zero. www.xcd.com

Read the latest issue of the OGV Energy magazine HERE