Since purchasing the Well-Safe Protector in September of 2020, our team and our partners have been working extremely hard to achieve the milestones set out as part of our ambitious rig readiness and onboarding programs.

Following an intense shipyard stay in Norway, under ever-tightening COVID protocols, and a December cross-North Sea rig move, the Well-Safe Protector arrived in Invergordon. It has since undergone a complete Special Periodic Survey, and all operational equipment has been fully re-activated & tested. Our Well-Safe crew are now focusing on integrating all our processes and systems by taking lessons from our Well-Safe Guardian experience in preparation for rig acceptance audits in the coming weeks.

One of our key milestones was achieving the HSE Safety Case, which was completed, submitted, and approved by the regulator ahead of the planned schedule and is now in place. Thanks to our team’s dedication onshore and offshore, along with the support of Marex, for delivering this result.

With all technical documentation in place and the completion of the drilling equipment, our 7-month project involving over 105,000 manhours of work, incident-free, is now complete.

This kind of performance was only delivered because the teams and subcontractors worked as #ONETEAM and worked through every challenge they faced. They should be very proud of this achievement.

Last week Well-Safe Solutions took part in the 2021 virtual ICoTA week, with our Chief Operating Officer, Matt Jenkins, giving the keynote speech, followed by Steve Chalmers, one of our Senior Well Abandonment Engineers, presenting on ‘Optimisating Well Suspension through Light Intervention from a Moored Semi-Submersible.’ Here, Steve Chalmers talks more about the bigger picture in well decommissioning and furthering cost reduction, reducing risk and decreasing the carbon footprint of a project.

Well-Safe Solutions have completed multiple FEED/SELECT decommissioning studies for various operators within the UK. These studies cover all phases of well decommissioning; from initial well suspension to wellhead removal, identifying key risks associated with each phase and providing solutions to reduce risk and costs.

The approach outlined last week during the ICoTA presentation focussed on the initial Well Suspension Phase, comparing a more common approach utilising a Light Well Intervention Vessel (LWIV) to our bespoke “One MODU” vessel; the Well-Safe Guardian.

Beyond the initial Well Suspension Phase, additional risk and cost reductions can be achieved when taking a more holistic view of the overall field decommissioning campaign.

Comparing the same well suspension operations but considering it as part of an overall decommissioning campaign found that, in most scenarios, a moored semi-submersible is required during the remaining abandonment phases. Therefore, any risk associated with mooring a semi-submersible is still present even if the initial suspension work is completed without a rig. In addition, utilising an additional vessel (e.g. LWIV) to complete the well suspension phase increases the overall operational risk and cost to the decommissioning campaign through additional mobilisations, as well as managing multiple vessel scopes and contracts.

The Well-Safe “One MODU” Solution to Field Decommissioning minimises the number of vessels required to complete the scope of work, provides a decreased carbon footprint, provides a reduction in project risk exposure, and ensures more cost certainty for our customers.

In the near future, Well-Safe Solutions plans to announce updated news on our intervention system that will become a valuable addition to the Well-Safe Guardian.

Since its inception in 2017, Well-Safe Solutions has focused heavily upon establishing relationships with a variety of organisations at every level of the supply chain. To date, over 125 Master Services Agreement (MSA) documents have been executed covering a variety of activities both on and offshore.

This extensive suite of contracts enables Well-Safe Solutions to provide a full, Tier 1, P&A specialist service from both its bespoke decommissioning semi-submersible and jack-up rigs. Agreements put in place have been used operationally to great success in support of Well-Safe’s clients, and to facilitate upgrade & modification tasks on the Well-Safe Guardian and Protector assets.

Well-Safe Solutions has focused on building a collaborative culture of vendor engagement across every level of its operations. Specifically, this has involved fostering clear, concise and transparent relationships with its subcontractors in line with Well-Safe’s company philosophy.

Well-Safe Solutions believes that the formation of these relationships will provide the foundation for undertaking multi-operator, multi-well campaigns as part of the ‘P&A Club’ offering, delivering utmost commercial efficiency alongside industry-leading service performance.

Our vision is to be the trusted well decommissioning service partner of choice.

As part of that journey, not only have we invested by growing our fleet, we understand that our people are equally important.

By bolstering our onshore team and investing heavily in our offshore teams, we have attracted some of the most experienced P&A crew available in the market, bringing together their experience and lessons learned to further develop our Well-Safe Culture.

By overhauling areas that will see heavy usage, adding adaptations for decommissioning operations, and combing our alliance with our downhole service company to help us integrate the services to reduce POB numbers, we are working hard to truly optimise P&A campaigns.

Following the recent acquisition of their second asset, Well-Safe Solutions has secured a significant £26 million investment to fund the next phase of its growth plan.

The further investment into the decommissioning company was led by MW&L Capital Partners, following their initial investment of £66 million to the company back in October 2019.

Phil Milton, Chief Executive Officer 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 growth businesses. Julian Metherell, Partner at MW&L and Non-Exec Director at Well-Safe Solutions, commented: “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 jack-up drilling unit, the Well-Safe Protector, the acquisition in 2019 of the semi-sub, the Well-Safe Guardian and a complete P&A capability, they are poised to tackle the industry challenge head-on.”

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.

Industry stalwart Alasdair Locke, Chairman and majority shareholder in Well-Safe Solutions said: “Well-Safe Solutions has the delivery model and capability that will revolutionise how we approach well decommissioning. It is committed to providing a world-class offering and has the skills, tools and experience to become a market leader in this exciting yet pivotal phase of our industry.”

Providing bespoke assets following significant investment and upgrade, Well-Safe says they are ready to undertake multi-operator, multi-well campaigns as part of their ‘P&A Club’ model, prepared to deliver the cost-savings that the operators and regulators desire.

Well-Safe Solutions is today delighted to announce the acquisition of the West Epsilon jack-up rig from Seadrill sparking another job boost for the company.

Built in 1993, the asset is a heavy-duty, harsh environment jack-up with an extensive and enviable operational history in the North Sea.

The news comes following the company’s acquisition of the Well-Safe Guardian in April 2019 and adds to their growing portfolio of bespoke decommissioning assets.

Well-Safe will start work immediately on the newly renamed ‘Well-Safe Protector’ to undertake an upgrade and modification programme, ready to deploy the unit specifically for enhanced plug and abandonment projects in early 2021.

Phil Milton, CEO, Well-Safe Solutions said: “The acquisition of this asset allows us to continue to deliver our vision and the business model that we set out to deliver to the industry, giving us the ability to cover both subsea wells and multiple platform projects. We have remained focussed and committed to our strategy and are delighted to have reached this agreement with Seadrill.

This further investment into the business not only strengthens our offering but will drive further recruitment with the creation of around 100 new jobs, which, during these times of great uncertainty within the industry, is welcome news.”

Operations on the upgrade and SPS renewal of the company’s first rig, the Well-Safe Guardian, were paused earlier this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, with operations now restarting and the addition of the ‘Well-Safe Protector’, Well-Safe is poised to be the first UK company providing a full, Tier 1, P&A specialist service from both a bespoke decommissioning semi-submersible and jack-up drilling rig, offering substantial cost savings and environmental benefits to our customers.

With the industry’s number of drilling units (both semi-submersible and jack-up’s) in the UKCS in decline through both retirement and cold stacking, Well-Safe is bucking the trend by investing heavily in their fleet. Providing warm assets with a full 5-year SPS ready to undertake multi-operator, multi-well campaigns as part of their ‘P&A Club’ offering, delivering the cost-savings that the industry and regulators desire.

The acquisition – for an undisclosed sum – will see Well-Safe’s staffing levels rise both onshore and offshore ­as the company continues preparations to deploy both the Well-Safe Guardian and the Well-Safe Protector in early 2021.

Well-Safe Solutions is delighted to announce the award to Oceanic Systems Ltd (OOS) for the provision of Dive System Support and Engineering Services onboard the Well-Safe Guardian semi-submersible decommissioning rig.

Mike Masson, OOS’s Managing Director: “We’re delighted to finally secure the Master Service Agreement (MSA) with Well-Safe Solutions.  We have been working with Well-Safe extensively over the past 8 months assisting in securing a saturation system and associated equipment and now to continue to get the opportunity to install and commission the system is a further endorsement of the professionalism and capabilities of the Orca Oceanic Systems team.”

Our dedicated project team is already deployed, and the preparation phase has begun with arrangements being made to complete the shipping of the system from Singapore as soon as the COVID-19 Situation allows.”

Phil Milton, CEO, Well-Safe Solutions: “Executing this MSA with Orca Oceanic Systems will ensure the continued delivery of our bespoke plug and abandonment asset, the Well-Safe Guardian, giving our customers the best-in-class service from a single unit.”.

Orca Oceanic Systems Ltd (OOS) is an equipment and dive system services company with headquarters in Portlethen, Aberdeen with regional offices in London and Singapore. OOS are on track to treble its workforce with a mixture of full-time staff and contractors in the coming months to support their tier one clients, in both the commercial diving and asset management/equipment servicing sector.

Optimising Project Performance

Well-Safe Solutions’ adoption of Apriside’s Oilfield OS Operations Management System is a key example of how we use innovative digital solutions to optimise project performance and develop partnerships with our clients.

Oilfield OS provides us with a collaborative platform in which multi-functional teams can work together to optimise the planning, execution, and analysis of well decommissioning projects.

This cloud-based workspace avoids common project risks such as poor communication and ensures all aspects of the project are integrated towards common objectives.

Clients benefit from such an approach by accessing vital project information through an easy to use portal, in which we can demonstrate in a transparent and concise manner, project performance and financial scrutiny.

This system has been used to deliver the previous 14 well decommissioning projects at Well-Safe Solutions, with data analysis and lessons learned currently being used to optimise future campaign planning and execution.

To find out more about Oilfield OS and it’s capabilities, check out their website using the link below:
Oilfield OS

In the spring of 2020, the oil & gas industry is enduring unprecedented strain. Weathering the storm of a global pandemic and reacting to the consequences of a drastic commodity downturn – just as some stability was
beginning to return to the market – is scarcely believable, yet here we are.

During this period, it is worth asking ourselves what obligations are certain, and how can we best address them.

Redundant assets compromise the balance sheet, drain cash for poor return and thus impede the viability of premium assets. An operator with an active and productive decommissioning programme is maintaining an efficient and effective asset turnover cycle, and those that are best at it will come out of this turmoil the strongest.

Well-Safe contends that preparation is key through proper data analysis, incorporation of lessons learnt, planning of investigative work (if required), and consideration of required contingencies.

VALUE
A recent engineering analysis conducted by Well-Safe showed that engineering studies could demonstrably provoke 10% reduction in project cost. The source of the savings in one example was in challenging the barrier philosophy (removing scope from the work) and introducing a rigless phase to improve efficiency (removing risk and therefore contingencies). Preliminary well engineering costs are a small fraction of the overall project costs: two or three percent? If so, about ten percent of costs being driven out is a five-fold return on investment on engineering services.

DEDICATED DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
Well-Safe has a comprehensive and detailed design philosophy which is an integral part of our business processes. The Well Decommissioning Design Process (WDDP) is a gated process bespoke to well abandonment. It is not a well engineering and well design process that has been adjusted to well abandonment; the process has been built to deliver well abandonment as its first order of business, and because of that, it is more efficient and comprehensive than typical gated processes.

Using the WDDP Well-Safe can deliver studies for all forms of well abandonment – having already engaged on all types of well environments; platform, rigless, jack-up, subsea, land, etc. Although Well-Safe does have its own well abandonment asset, the Well-Safe Guardian semi-submersible, it does not preclude us from providing professional services to all sectors of the well abandonment market: our engineers have experience across all environments.

The WDDP has the following gates: FEED, Select, Define, Execute and Close. Using these gates, Well-Safe can deliver a broad array of engineering output; from very early Asset Retirement Obligation (ARO) estimations, technology cost-benefit analysis, and detailed abandonment programmes.

An ARO review conducted by Well-Safe Solutions for a North-Sea operator managed to produce a saving of over £50million, by using accurate data and lessons learned taken from previous decommissioning work conducted in the field. By taking into consideration updates in technology and applying a better understanding of abandonment techniques, Well-Safe enabled the operator to release substantial financial accruals from their balance sheet.

PRECISION
Well-Safe engineers are in a unique position to generate cost estimates with an unusually high degree of precision – which has real-world benefits financially. When an AFE is overestimated, any capital which is locked in, but ultimately unspent, creates tangible financial inefficiencies – with a Cost of Capital of 10% per year, £5million overestimation for a year-long campaign destroys half a million pounds of operator capital.

Our degree of precision is feasible for two reasons. Firstly, with a great deal of experience, lessons learned, and broad vendor engagement, Well-Safe has a tangible appreciation of available technology, its application and cost, even in these turbulent times. Secondly, we have long term contracts with a broad range of suppliers in place today; with over 70 vendors signed up to Master Service Agreements, and multiyear contracts, Well-Safe is in a strong position to provide cost certainty.

Should Well-Safe be contracted to provide operational support to the project, we can also activate a full procurement exercise employing our active subcontracting relationships where further expertise is available.

RELIABILITY
Estimating a cost is one thing but delivering the project against this cost is quite another. That is why Well-Safe is very active in designing bespoke performance models. This provides clients with the confidence that promises made will be promises kept. These models are constructed to address the clients’ key requirements: cost assurance, delivery performance, schedule obligations, or any combination as required. We are a solution orientated company, and we believe that solutions are not just designs, technology and processes, but also commercial, contractual, and financial. Open, transparent, and constructive dialogue is key.

Ensuring preliminary planning and engineering studies are correctly executed, enables the industry to better prepare for the inevitable increased activity, with significant cost benefits and efficiency for operators.

Well-Safe Solutions have a track record in progressing P&A projects from front end engineering to execution using our proven planning tools and the most experienced P&A team in the business.

Well-Safe were recently engaged on a short start-up P&A project, affording a challenging 3-month period between contract award and the arrival of the MODU on location. It was essential that project resources were aligned, programmes optimised and regulatory permits secured to ensure project delivery. Well-Safe utilised its bespoke Well Decommissioning Delivery Process to ensure that key project milestones were set and achieved, assisting with the smooth progression of the project from SELECT through to DEFINE. These crucial project phases included the submission of key regulatory documents and the generation of detailed well abandonment designs and cost estimates. The depth of experience in the Well-Safe team enabled optimisation of the well abandonment design to be implemented, such as scope removal and new technology implementation which increased overall P&A efficiency. The DEFINE phase also required an extensive procurement exercise to be undertaken, with over 20 contracts evaluated, negotiated, awarded. All of these products and/or services had to be on-boarded, integrated and deployed as part of the Project Readiness Review.

Despite the challenges, the transition from DEFINE to EXECUTE was achieved with all required equipment in place, fully considered and agreed risk assessments, regulatory consents given and well abandonment designs in place. At the Project Readiness evaluation, a “Abandon the Well on Paper” exercise was undertaken with full vendor participation, further examining the risk profiles for each activity and ensuring that the team was well prepared for the scope. This way, Well-Safe were able to further drive project optimisation, working smarter and leverage all lessons learned into the project.

Throughout the EXECUTE phase of the campaign, careful monitoring and control of the project was achieved using unique project reporting tools available to all stakeholders, and a bespoke Management of Change process to implement coordinated updates to the plan. These were key value drivers for the success of the project and they ensured that all project stakeholders were working harmoniously, with a one-team approach, progressing the project to deliver safe and efficient plug and abandonment for the client.