CIS completes operation on major gas project in Southern North Sea

24/02/15

Conductor Installation Services Ltd (CIS), a company that provides hammer services to install conductors and drive piles, announced that it successfully completed a conductor installation operation 17 hours ahead of schedule for a leading North Sea oil and gas operator.

Work was carried out on a major gas project in the Southern North Sea. CIS was retained to install six 30-inch conductors on the project to form the foundations of six development wells. In addition, CIS was required to supply cold-cutting services, and all conductor-running, handling equipment, together with drive shoes.

Job safely completed 17 hours early = reduced time and costs

The five-member CIS crew worked with rig contractor Ensco and the operator to commence the first phase of the operation. Working from the jack-up rig Ensco 80, CIS used a 90 kJ hydraulic hammer to drive the first conductor to its target depth on the wellhead platform. Due to issues involving cold cutting placement, it was jointly decided that it would be best to flame-cut the conductor online and carry out the cold cut offline. By doing so, it also made it possible to install the centralisers offline. By adjusting the plan to cold cut offline, 3.5 hours of online time was saved during this initial conductor-driving operation. This practice was then applied for all installation operations required for the five remaining wells. As a result, the job was completed a full 17 hours ahead of schedule. The operator realised significant cost-savings in terms of reduced equipment rental fees, rig time and labour.

With the hammer’s ability to drive conductors with pinpoint accuracy, each one was efficiently driven to its target depth. The longest conductor driven measured 400 feet from the rig floor to the conductor toe, ultimately reaching a depth of 157 feet below the mudline of the seafloor.

CIS knows the value of good communications, which, proved once again to be the case during this operation. “All parties worked together to achieve the same objective: to install the conductors safely, in the quickest, most effective way possible,” said Andy Penman, Group Managing Director of CIS. “To achieve this, we invested a great deal of care and attention to the strategic planning process. I also attribute our success to the experience of our crew and the excellent working relationship we share with this valued client and everyone involved. The fact that our joint efforts resulted in completing 17 hours ahead of schedule without a single LTI is especially satisfying.”

Work on the wellhead platform was carried out as the result of a contract awarded to CIS by the operator. Over time, CIS has worked on behalf of this operator numerous times in the Southern North Sea, and looks forward to installing conductors for the foundations of new wells on the next phase of this major development.

–ENDS–