Offshore staff

LONDON -- LLC Gazflot has commissioned Plexus Holdings to supply its TRT-S mudline suspension equipment for a drilling program in the Okhotsk Sea off eastern Russia.

The well is planned for offshore West Kamchatka in the Magadan basin. The contract, valued at $500,000, should be completed by November.

Plexus says the equipment allows jackups to transfer casing loads from the rig to the sea bed, and facilitates a subsequent (planned) disengagement and possible suspension platform tieback options for a wellhead system.

The climate in the West Kamchatka region means that drilling can only be conducted from May to September. LLC Gazflot, a subsidiary of Gazprom, will likely drill further wells next year, and Plexus hopes to tender both its MLS services and its POS-GRIP surface wellhead equipment technology.

Plexus CEO Ben van Bilderbeek said: “I would also like to highlight that our equipment allows the removal of temporary abandonment caps through the BOP and for tieback to occur before the abandonment caps are removed.

“The importance of such an essential safety feature was formally recognized by the Montara Commission of Inquiry Report in June 2010 in relation to the oil spill incident offshore Australia in late 2009.”

04/07/2011