Well-Safe Solutions and Neptune Energy have agreed a contract for the Well-Safe Protector jack-up rig to plug and abandon (P&A) at least four subsea and 21 platform wells in the Dutch and UK sectors of the North Sea.
The one-year, firm contract also enables Neptune Energy to take up Well-Safe’s broad range of decommissioning engineering services if required, as well as the option of up to eight three-month extensions.
Mobilising during Q1 2023 in direct continuation from an earlier well decommissioning project for Ithaca Energy, the Well-Safe Protector is a harsh environment, independent leg cantilever design jack-up rig with an extensive operational history in the North Sea.
Duncan Morison, Rig Manager of the Well-Safe Protector, said: “With the addition of a further backlog of work to the Well-Safe Protector’s schedule, we are delighted at the level of interest the Well-Safe business model continues to generate in mature fields such as the North Sea.
“The Well-Safe Protector boasts a large volume of deck space for tubing, casing and conductor recovery, allowing effective batch operations and helping our clients to realise considerable operational savings.
“There are clear operational synergies between Well-Safe Solutions and Neptune Energy, and we look forward to collaborating with the Neptune team to effectively and efficiently plug and abandon these fields.”
Stuart Payne, NSTA Director of Supply Chain, Decommissioning and HR, added: “We have consistently pressed operators and the supply chain to work in a collaborative way to form well decommissioning campaigns, which are more cost-efficient and help save time and lower emissions.
“The Well-Safe Protector’s upcoming mobilisation for a multi-operator campaign is the latest encouraging sign that industry has got the message loud and clear. The cross-border element of this work also highlights the potential for exporting the considerable decommissioning expertise of the UK supply chain to other regions.”
The announcement follows on from news earlier in the summer that the Well-Safe Protector will plug and abandon six wells on the Anglia platform in the Southern North Sea for Ithaca Energy, mobilising in autumn 2022.
