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| Atkins supports BP on project in the southern North Sea Leading oil and gas experts from Atkins' offices in London and Aberdeen have just completed a groundbreaking piece of work supporting BP on an innovative well rejuvenation project in the southern North Sea. To maximise production from the Ravenspurn North ST-3 platform, BP is rejuvenating its 14 wells using concentric coiled tubing to vacuum out any obstructions and debris, and improving the well completion design with high integrity liners. However, the operation required more than five kilometres of concentric coiled tubing for each well which, along with the support materials, would have placed an enormous strain on the normally unmanned wellhead platform and its equipment. The coiled tubing equipment for example weighed 210Te and the platform crane only has a capacity to lift 12Te. Faced with this major constraint, Atkins worked with BP and leading oilfield services provider BJ Services to adapt an existing technique developed by BJ Services to spool coiled tubing from a supply vessel onto a fixed platform without the need for heavy lifts. This technique has been used by BJ Services in the past for conventional coiled tubing; however this is the first time it has been used to deploy concentric coiled tubing from a vessel on to a fixed platform. Atkins reviewed this approach, carried out checks on the capacity of the jacket structure and confirmed that all scenarios were considered in the design of the operation. For example, at a location where the design wave height is 18.5m, waves more than 10m high are routine and tidal currents exceed 1m/s, the well equipment was designed to have weak points to mitigate the risk of the supply vessel damaging the platform through loss of control. Using a detailed computer model of the platform, which Atkins uses to manage its integrity, the team was able to ensure all safety checks were completed efficiently. write your comments about the article :: © 2010 Construction News :: home page |