Abstract
For standalone wireline well interventions on offshore platforms, a number of challenges are faced. As a result, a world first technology in the form of a combined wireline mast and tower system has been developed and successfully implemented to address these safety and operational issues. To date, there has been recognition for the successful implementation of this technology in the UK, winning The ICoTA LEA Award for Innovation and Technology for 2019, judged annually by representatives from ICoTA Europe, Oil & Gas UK and SPE Aberdeen and awarded by the ICoTA Europe Chapter at the European Well Intervention Conference and as a finalist at the 2019 Oil and Gas UK Offshore Safety Awards for Innovation in Safety.
Shell UK worked with DWELLOP to successfully implement their innovative design on the Brent Charlie platform as part of its abandonment campaign. It is shipped as a self-contained single item and secured onto an Adapter Hatch which acts as an interface between offshore installation deck and mast. The mast is then hydraulically erected and its telescopic sections locked in place to the desired height, allowing well intervention work to commence. This addresses key challenges faced on offshore platforms, namely a large quantity of crane lifts, inefficient rigging up / down and deck management as the footprint of conventional masts is significant, requiring high scaffolding towers and guy wires spanning across the platform deck.
This paper gives an overview of the value and challenges of standalone wireline operations, with particular focus on the application towards well abandonment operations on Shell's Brent Charlie platform, offshore UK. A technical breakdown will then be given of the new wireline mast and results from the first campaign presented to illustrate the clear step change in safety and performance as a result of this new technology.