Asian fusion feeds international appetite
  from: Offshore Engineer
  by: Darius Snieckus
  Thursday, October 02, 2008

Fresh from carrying out the world’s first rigless well intervention in Asia-Pacific, Darius Snieckus sits down with TSMarine to talk about Vincent, vessel construction, and venture capitalists – and plans taking shape in West Africa and the US Gulf.

The international oil industry’s current headlong rush to explore for and develop new fields – and extend the producing lives of mature ones – can be felt in the bustling corridors of TSMarine. Since the beginning of the year, underpinned by a £53 million vote of confidence from investment banks 3i and ABN Amro, the Aberdeen-headquartered subsea contractor has taken on and completed the first ever fully-integrated rigless well intervention in the Asia Pacific region, opened new offices in Lagos and Singapore, and started construction of the second of two DP multipurpose support vessels being delivered by the Astrilleros de Hueva shipyard in Spain – among other things.

As headline-making achievements go, TSMarine could hardly have hoped for better when it was chosen by Woodside Energy two years ago to undertake a rigless well intervention assignment on the Vincent development off Western Australia. The work completed this past June saw the company sail out the chartered Havila Harmony to deploy, install and test seven subsea Christmas trees and carry out wireline intervention on the accompanying wells, marking a first for rigless well intervention in Asia Pacific – and, performed in 372m of water, a job that missed equalling the world record water depth for subsea wireline intervention from a monohull by a mere 5m.

Leading off phase one of a campaign to install and complete as many as 11 subsea trees alongside a range of commissioning and decommissioning work on Vincent, the project, being run from TSMarine’s Perth office with partners Schlumberger handling wireline operations and WellOps well control, has been ‘hugely successful’, according to TSMarine chief executive Alasdair Cowie, the result of a ‘long time spent working for Woodside on methodologies and procedures, showing how we were actually going to execute the work, so that we could be ready to go on the day.’

After two years of planning and engineering, the work on Vincent, where wireline runs from the vessel achieved ‘significant success rates’ and reached downhole well depths of 1450m, has been ‘extremely pleasing and of fundamental importance to the future’ of TSMarine’s contracts with Woodside and other operators in the region, he points out.

The Vincent project was structured in four stages – detailed engineering, mobilisation, subsea tree deployment and wireline well intervention. During operations, the trees were run using the Havila Harmony’s 150t active heave compensation crane and a mechanical running tool, with locking and testing performed by ROVs fitted with speciallydeveloped hydraulic power, and tooling packs and hanger and deepset plugs removed by slickline intervention using WellOps subsea lubricator.

‘In addition to the operational success, we completed the project with an outstanding HSE performance record,’ underscores Cowie. ‘It shows that proper planning and preparation will deliver great business and safety outcomes. The two go hand-in-hand.’

The second phase of the assignment at Vincent is slated to start in September after well decommissioning work for Woodside, part of the the rigless intervention contract, receives the Havila Harmony’s undivided attention. Phase three is also ‘on the calendar’ though no firm start-date has been set.

Such has been the demand for TSMarine’s brand of subsea services since it opened its doors in 2004, that the contractor last year took the expansionist step of adding a pair of newbuild DP3 rigless intervention and support vessels to its chartered fleet, which, along with the Havila Harmony and the Rem Etive, makes four. TSMarine also expects to secure a further long-term charter vessel for its fleet in 2009.

In January TSMarine announced first steel had been cut to start construction of the Loch Sunart at Spain’s Astrilleros de Hueva shipyard, the second of a pair of vessels that will sail out into service for the contractor in the coming 12 months.

The Marin Teknikk MT6040-design newbuilds, which will feature a Hydramarine 200t offshore knuckle jib crane with AHC, will be outfitted to process seabed and well product residue with a customised environmental treatment system, and handle well decommissioning and intervention work using TSMarine’s own subsea intervention lubricator, deployment and control system. Two workclass ROVs will be onboard to support operations.

Measuring 109.5m long with a beam of 22m, the ‘Lochs’ will have a working deck area of 1200m² and accommodation for 120. They are foreseen for subsea intervention and installation workscopes encompassing tophole drilling, wireline well intervention services, Category 1, 2, and 3 well abandonment, subsea tree installation and recovery, subsea production system intervention and support, subsea decommissioning, IRM, ROV support, and seabed excavation.

Due first into service, the Loch Torridon is to be delivered by mid-2009, with the Loch Sunart expected to follow before the end of next year.

Keys to the Lochs

‘Though we have been operating ships on long-term charter, we couldn’t really get what we want,’ offers TSMarine commercial manager Bill Donaldson. ‘The 6040 design represents our wish-list and while we don’t see ourselves as vessel operators, these vessels make it possible for us to provide the full spectrum of services that make up our business. There is a much bigger construction workscope in Australia, for instance – field development work including laying flexible pipe and umbilicals, supporting divers, installing and flowing subsea trees, all of which is experience that we want to build on elsewhere in the world.’

Launch of construction of the two Lochs was financed by ABN Amro, with a further equity investment by 3i and ABN Amro coming early this year in recognition of TSMarine’s growth since 2004 to a leading position in niche subsea rigless intervention and decommissioning, which translated into turnover of £55 million last year, and the contractor’s longer-term internationalist ambitions.

Further proof of which came in quick succession in the last month, with TSMarine setting out its stall in not one but three of those international markets. Most recently, the contractor joined forces with J Ray McDermott to jointly market subsea construction and decommissioning services in the Gulf of Mexico, Asia Pacific and West Africa. In line with TSMarine’s global expansion strategy, the agreement allows McDermott to offer TSMarine’s vessels, ROVs and subsea engineering equipment as part of its larger subsea construction service. For its part, TSMarine will benefit from access to McDermott’s engineering services, additional vessels and equipment for smaller subsea installation and decommissioning projects.

Meanwhile, in Nigeria, the company finalised a joint venture agreement with Gulf Energy Resources to form TSMarine Contracting Nigeria, opening an office in Lagos in the belief that ‘a base in Nigeria where it can respond to client needs locally and work closely with local contractors and suppliers will quickly open up a new client base’ for its services. And in Singapore, at the same time, TSMarine opened the doors to a new office in the city-state to cover the Southeast Asia region.

It bears noting that TSMarine’s internationalism campaign has not meant it has taken its eye off its home North Sea market. In February, the company agreed to team up with Schlumberger to ‘explore the opportunities’ of providing subsea well intervention on the UK continental shelf. The two contractors aim to test oil company interest in ‘diagnostic and remedial operations that restore production and boost reservoir recovery without a rig’. As on Vincent, Schlumberger will provide wireline and other wellservices functions, along with well engineering expertise, while TSMarine supplies vessels, marine services, subsea lubricators and a full deployment package. A dedicated vessel, yet to be named, is expected to start work later this year.

Slow-rolling as the take-up of rigless well intervention has been, change is afoot. ‘Given where rig rates are and the need felt by oil companies to keep them doing what they were designed to do – drilling rather than doing intervention work – along with the impact of the price of oil on exploration, and the fact that there are just that many more subsea wells than there used to be, means rigless well intervention is increasingly the preferred option. However, it is still a matter of introducing to the oil companies just how much can been done this way to enhance production, and how little it costs compared to bringing in a rig,’ notes Donaldson.

‘I think when you see some of the larger subsea developments off West Africa where you have 40, 50, 60 wells online, there is going to be much more focus on maintaining the production flow.With conventional platform-based wells you are getting maybe 60% recovery from the reservoir while with subsea wells it could be only 25%, which could be enhanced by rigless intervention.’

‘We are now entering a period of consolidation,’ underlines Cowie. ‘We’ve got a lot on our hands. And we’ve got to make it all work. Even with $140/bbl oil it isn’t straightforward.’OE

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