Well-Safe Solutions has announced the award of a major contract to decommission up to twenty-one wells on the Schooner and Ketch fields in the UKCS, operated by DNO North Sea (ROGB) Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of DNO ASA.

The Schooner and Ketch fields, located in the UK Southern North Sea, ceased production in August 2018, with 20 platform wells and a single subsea well. The project will start immediately with a plan to commence offshore operations at the end of 2019. The campaign is expected to last approximately two years.

Phil Milton, chief executive at Well-Safe Solutions said: “This is a fantastic achievement for Well-Safe, allowing us to build a continuous programme of work through campaign-based approach and realising the associated benefits.”

Well-Safe will be responsible for the delivery of key aspects of the project including engineering,  contractor management and logistics with DNO retaining well operatorship.

The contract award follows the recent announcement of Well-Safe’s acquisition of its first semi-submersible asset, the Well-Safe Guardian.

Featured Picture: Bogi Vang, Deputy Country Manager UK & Senior Financial Adviser at DNO North Sea and Phil Milton, Chief Executive Officer at Well-Safe Solutions

Well-Safe Solutions today announced that it has agreed to acquire the Ocean Guardian semi-submersible drilling unit; sparking another jobs boost for the company.

The asset, currently owned by Diamond Offshore, has been a stalwart in the North Sea, drilling hundreds of wells since entering service in 1985.

Upon delivery, Well-Safe Solutions will start work immediately on an upgrade of the semi-submersible, which will be renamed the Well-Safe Guardian, converting the asset into a bespoke plug and abandonment (P&A) unit.

Well-Safe Solutions will invest in the region of $100 million dollars on upgrades to deliver a truly bespoke P&A unit. This will include installing a dive system and the capability to deploy a subsea intervention lubricator, the design of which has been supported by the Oil and Gas Technology Centre (OGTC).

Well-Safe Solutions confirmed that the acquisition would bring a further ninety jobs to the North Sea over the course of the next year, adding to the company’s current forty employees.

This is the first time a privately owned, Scottish business will own and operate this type of unit. The company is already progressing conversations to add a second semi-submersible to their business. This will be followed by a jack-up rig, monohull vessel and land-based P&A units.

Mark Patterson, Executive Director, who heads up the asset purchase programme, said: “This is a major milestone in Well-Safe’s journey and one that is in-line with our strategy.  It’s great to have the Ocean Guardian, which has a great reputation on which we will build, as our first asset.”

Launched in August 2017 with the vision to become a Tier 1 wells decommissioning company, the Aberdeen-based company is progressing swiftly to realising its ambition, boasting over 450 wells’ worth of experience amongst their team.

Andy Samuel, CEO of OGA, commented: “The OGA very much welcomes new investments and innovative business models such as this, as a key part of achieving industry’s 35% decommissioning cost reduction target. Joint well plug and abandon campaigns, using the club approach should not only prove to be more cost-efficient, but also help build UK supply chain expertise in decommissioning which is then globally exportable.”

Phil Milton, Chief Executive Officer of Well-Safe Solutions said: “We have stayed totally focused and committed to our original strategy and are delighted to have reached this agreement with Diamond Offshore for the acquisition of our first asset, which will allow us to deliver the complete P&A solution.”

“We have had a number of in-depth conversations with potential clients and believe the purchase of this asset will allow us to advance these towards firm commitments to our P&A Club”

Research has indicated there are over 33,000 wells worldwide to be decommissioned over the next twenty years.  Well-Safe’s long-term goal is to export their model and advance from the UK into this global marketplace.

Well-Safe Solutions is today delighted to announce the appointment of a key position within the Executive Team.

Matt Jenkins is to become Chief Operating Officer of Aberdeen-based Well-Safe Solutions with immediate effect, having been promoted from his previous role as Director of Well Abandonment.

Joining Well-Safe Solutions in late 2017 with 15 years of experience at ConocoPhillips, Matt led UK P&A Engineering and Strategy where he was responsible for the decommissioning of over 50 wells since 2014.

Matt said of his promotion: “I’m very proud to have been asked to step up into this incredibly important role within the organisation and I am excited at the opportunities this will bring me on a personal and professional level.

“The last year has been tremendously exciting with incredible support from industry We have gathered a fabulous team that is destined for great success.”

Chairman Alasdair Locke commented: “We are delighted to offer this promotion to Matt. He has demonstrated great leadership and understanding of our business and commercial offering and seeing such talent being rewarded with such a key position fits very well within the tremendous business ethos Well-Safe Solutions strive to achieve.”

Well-Safe Solutions’ CEO, Phil Milton, also commented of Matt’s appointment: “I am delighted to have Matt as the COO here at Well-Safe. He has more than demonstrated in the last year his ability to lead the operational aspects of Well-Safe and having him as a shareholder clearly demonstrates his commitment to the business.”

The company now has more than 35 personnel working for a string of clients and aims to employ more than 400 people within the next three years.

Well-Safe offers a fully-integrated ‘Tier 1’ well abandonment service, providing the complete P&A project delivery from strategy definition and development through to the execution of operations utilising the firm’s own bespoke marine and land-based assets.

Well-Safe has launched five P&A clubs that have sparked considerable interest in the business and is in final negotiations on acquiring key assets.

The team pledges to retain and share lessons learned and operate in collaboration with clients to achieve significant cost reductions. The capital released can then be utilised by operators to invest further in the North Sea basin and help execute Maximise Economic Recovery (MER), a key plank of the Oil & Gas Authority’s strategy.

Well abandonment specialists Well-Safe Solutions, in collaboration with Scottish Enterprise and ScotGrad, will bring on three new graduate positions in its Finance, Well Engineering and QHSE teams.

The Aberdeen-based company has amassed the largest concentration of decommissioning expertise in the oil and gas industry. Boasting in excess of 400 wells worth of experience among its workforce, Well-Safe believe it is the perfect time to introduce graduates into the rapidly growing business.

Phil Milton, Chief Executive Officer of Well-Safe Solutions said: “The importance of young people within the industry, especially at this time, is key. Well-Safe’s core values are based on collaboration, knowledge and lessons learned. As we’re a growing organisation, we look for people with unique skills and experience. It is an ideal time to bring in young talent to work alongside knowledgeable individuals and create a collaborative and sharing environment”

“Allowing individuals to develop a set of valuable skills as a foundation for their future is important to us and as a start-up organisation as we grow, they are able to grow alongside us. It is the perfect time to experience the business at this early stage.”

Well-Safe worked alongside Scottish Enterprise to develop this project and used the ScotGrad initiative to connect with a wide range of talent to fulfill the requirements necessary for these placements.

Carri Cusick, Well-Safe’s Account Manager at Scottish Enterprise said: “It’s fantastic to see Well-Safe welcome graduates into its workforce. ScotGrad introduces fresh graduate talent to Scotland’s businesses and offers graduates the chance to work on significant company projects, whilst providing them with much-needed work experience. These placements can often lead to permanent positions with some of Scotland’s most exciting companies.”

The addition of the three graduate positions follows the promising first year Well-Safe has had in business with the development of their five P&A clubs, aiming to reduce the cost of well plug and abandonment operations, following significant interest in this innovative approach by operators in the North Sea.

“Hard to believe it’s been a year in business already, we have achieved much more than we originally planned and had excellent support and collaboration with the industry. A lot of hard work, but equally lots of fun too. We’ve built a fantastic team and I am very impressed with their dedication. Now with 35 people and over 400 wells of expertise under our belt, this positions us well for our second year in business. We very much look forward to continuing the growth of the company, where we are working hard on some very exciting opportunities, which we will be delighted to share with you in due course!” says Mark Patterson, Executive Director.

Well-Safe Solutions are proud to support the fantastic Pound for Piper trust with this stunning limited edition print arriving at our headquarters. The trust does great work to maintain the Piper Alpha memorial gardens at Hazelhead Park in Aberdeen and continues the legacy of all those involved in the tragedy.

Dropped off by our very own Steve Rae who is also chairman of the trust, make sure to look out for it hanging in our Well-Safe Solutions Aberdeen Office!

Marking the thirty-year anniversary since the Piper Alpha disaster, the event on 5-6 June at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre aimed to highlight lessons learned and the legacy that Piper had in shaping current operations within the industry, largely in health and safety.

Steve Rae, Operations Manager at Well-Safe Solutions and a Piper Alpha survivor, played a large part in the conference including closing the event with his ‘call to arms’ talk, highlighting the need for greater development of “soft skills” like situational awareness, skills that were imperative to saving his life during the Piper Alpha tragedy.

During the conference Steve took part in an open Q&A session with Joanna Reynolds, BP Geophysicist & Graduate of the Year 2017, and Sam Ash, Mechanical Technician at Nexen & Apprentice of the Year 2017. This session reflected on the conference as a whole and had the idea to ‘pass the baton’ from one generation to the next. The idea behind this was to highlight how the new generation feel coming into the industry and their observations, as well as how the current generation can impart their wisdom and make changes for a safer working environment.
Steve, as a survivor, continues to work relentlessly within the industry, while taking every opportunity to positively influence health and safety matters. He said:

“This event has highlighted to me that we all understand what’s needed to bring continued improvement to our business sector. The themes I have heard repeated the most are a need for:
• Greater sharing and use of data across the entire business sector,
• A drive for standardization across the sector (common systems),
• Further introduction and use of the technology in our business
• A differing approach towards developing the soft/cognitive competencies of our workforce, beyond the standard training we provide today.”

Well-Safe Solutions, a tier 1 contractor, has now set up five different P&A Clubs to reduce the cost of well plug and abandonment, following significant interest in this innovative approach by operators in the North Sea.

The P&A club concept introduces a new commercial model  that tackles costly and complex late-life activity. By becoming a member of Well-Safe’s P&A Club and adding their well stock into the club, operators can spread the risk and cost of plugging and abandoning wells with others in the club and use economies of scale to safely remove hundreds of wells rather than focusing on individual wells, or a smaller numbers of wells.

The club approach is designed to reduce costs by 35% or more by leveraging campaign-based savings, not only for small well counts, but also by spreading spend. It offers flexibility to phase abandonment expenditure through the club’s programme of work to maximise knowledge capture and management  from a multi-operator well campaign approach. It also offers cost certainty, while minimising risk and non-productive time.

The positive reception from North Sea operators to this approach convinced Well-Safe Solutions to set up five clubs focusing on the following onshore wells using a land rig and offshore wells using jack-ups, semi-submersibles, well intervention vessels (category 1 and 2 wells) and a deepwater asset. Having five clubs designed around asset types gives Well-Safe the ability to deliver P&A operations on all well types.

Well-Safe founder and executive director, Mark Patterson, explained: “We’ve hit on a way to help operators meet the challenges and regulatory imperatives around the plug and abandonment of  wells that is simple, smart and cost-effective. Using the P&A Club model, whereby multiple operators will subscribe to the club and their well inventory will be pooled, the P&A operations will be delivered through a campaign-based approach. This means that operators will have cost certainty because we will be able to agree a fixed target cost per well. This will be based on well specifics rather than generic well categories and will be delivered by our dedicated P&A assets facilitated using standard terms and conditions across multiple well operations. If the well P&A work comes in under budget, then the savings will be redistributed among members of the club and various suppliers and contractors.”

Phil Milton, Chief Executive of Well-Safe added: “Decommissioning is often seen as the end of the road but it’s just a part of the lifecycle and by reducing liabilities and direct costs when shutting down uneconomic wells, there is more money to invest in exploiting other fields.

“We’re incredibly excited about the potential for our P&A Clubs, which could not only stimulate the decommissioning sector but also give a big boost to companies who want to invest  more money on development and production growth opportunities. This investment could also be assisted by Operators using the cost certainty that the P&A club offers to review liabilities being held on company balance sheets

Under long-term multi-year contracts, delivered by Well-Safe’s bespoke P&A assets, with agreed inflationary linked increases, subscribers to the Club will be guaranteed long term fixed rates over a 10 to 15 year period, the best-in-class well engineering team and project management, total transparency and shared knowledge management  leading to continuous improvement.

“As we get more effective, through retaining and sharing knowledge, we will adjust the cost of the well P&A operations based on greater productivity and faster results,” added Mark. “In addition, the club can introduce insurance cover to subscribers through tailor-made insurance schemes to cover cost over-runs, perpetuity and liability of field once complete, and project funding is also available and can be linked to decommissioning tax relief payments.”

Well-Safe Solutions has already created 30 new jobs in its Aberdeen headquarters and is currently recruiting for additional personnel. They have secured their 40,000sq ft marine and logistic base in Dundee and have shortliisted a number of marine assets for acquisition.

North-east MPs and Energy Minister Richard Harrington yesterday heard how the decommissioning industry could bring a jobs boost and help spark new life into the oil sector.

At a breakfast briefing in the House of Commons, Well-Safe Solutions’ management team told the MPs how they were looking to create 400 jobs in Aberdeen and Dundee over the next few years – and help oil companies save money on their decommissioning liabilities.

Aberdeen-based Well-Safe Solutions, the rapidly growing well abandonment specialist, met the MPs in the heart of Westminster to explain their plans for further expansion and to create a Well plug and abandonment club that could reduce costs significantly for operators as they seek to abandon uneconomic oil fields.

Phil Milton, Chief Executive of Well-Safe, told Mr Harrington and others that the cost savings could also help operators invest more cash into their exploration efforts in the North Sea and beyond.

“People may see decommissioning as the end of the road for the oil industry, but nothing could be further from the truth. This is just a part of the ongoing lifecycle of the sector and by reducing operators’ liabilities and direct costs when shutting down uneconomic wells it can help them spend money on other fields they may wish to explore and exploit,” Mr Milton said.

“Our P&A club idea helps firms spread their risk with others and means we can use economies of scale to clean up dozens of wells rather than focus on individual wells one at a time. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

Colin Clark, Conservative MP for Gordon and host of the House of Commons event, was delighted with the turnout and interest from his parliamentary colleagues.

“There is a perception in some quarters that oil and gas is over, but we know there’s still significant life left in the industry, and decommissioning – while a job creator in its own right – can also spark further life in so many elements of the sector.” Mr Clark said.

“I was delighted to be able to host this really important meeting.”

The Conservative and SNP MPs – from Aberdeen and Dundee – were told by executive director and Well-Safe founder Mark Patterson that they were having positive conversations with major oil companies in the UK and beyond.

Mr Patterson said: “We’re incredibly excited about the potential for our innovative P&A club and think this could not only stimulate the decommissioning sector in the UK but also give a big boost to companies wanting to spend money on exploration.”

Well-Safe Solutions, which only launched in August, recently announced it had secured two acres of quayside facilities with access to 43,000 square feet of covered space at the Port of Dundee for its marine assets.

Well-Safe Solutions, the Aberdeen-based well abandonment specialist, has chosen to locate its onshore marine base in the port of Dundee.

Well-Safe Solutions has secured two acres of quayside facilities with access to 40,000 square feet of covered space at the Port of Dundee for its marine assets.

Combining a wealth of subsea oil and gas expertise and experience with dedicated marine assets and equipment, Well-Safe Solutions is the first-of-its-kind “Tier 1” company with complete P&A capability from front-end engineering and design to project execution.

The Port of Dundee, which is rapidly establishing itself as a North Sea decommissioning hub, will provide Well-Safe Solutions with direct access to deep water quaysides, heavy lifting capabilities, significant dedicated warehouse space and unconstrained access into the established and operating ANSS decommissioning facilities.

Phil Milton, CEO of Well-Safe Solutions, is originally from Dundee and welcomes the transformation of his home town in recent years.

“This marine support base in Dundee will play a crucial role in supporting our rapidly growing business. We have chosen the Port of Dundee because of the critical mass of decommissioning companies already based here and the facilities on offer. We are looking forward to fostering a strong partnership with Forth Ports.

“Personally, I’m very pleased to be able to bring business to the community in which I started out. Dundee continues its ongoing development, growing its economy and introducing new businesses with a proactive, refreshing, can-do approach.”

At the port, Well-Safe Solutions will work alongside decommissioning industry leaders such as AF Offshore Decom, as part of the soon to be formed AF Dundee, waste management specialist Augean North Sea Services (ANSS), and other decommissioning specialists.

Stuart Wallace, Chief Operating Officer of Forth Ports Limited which owns and operates the Port of Dundee, said: “Well-Safe Solutions will not only be a huge asset to the Port of Dundee, but will also provide an economic boost to the Dundee area.”

“Decommissioning activity in the North Sea basin is increasing and we are excited to welcome Well-Safe Solutions, who are bringing innovation and expertise to the challenges of well abandonment.”

Formed in July this year, Well-Safe Solutions provides a ground-breaking approach to the safe and cost-efficient decommissioning of Well Plug and Abandonment (P&A). Set up by high profile industry veterans including Alasdair Locke, Paul Warwick and Mark Patterson, Well-Safe offers a specialist subscription well abandonment service that allows operators to meet the challenges and regulatory imperatives around decommissioning, while significantly reducing cost.