Modified program speeds North Sea conductor installation

Feb. 16, 2015
Acteon subsidiary Conductor Installation Services (CIS) has completed a conductor installation operation ahead of schedule in the southern North Sea for an unnamed operator.

Offshore staff

GREAT YARMOUTH, UK – Acteon subsidiary Conductor Installation Services (CIS) has completed a conductor installation operation ahead of schedule in the southern North Sea for an unnamed operator.

CIS was to install six 30-in. conductors to form the foundations of six development wells, and to supply cold-cutting services and all conductor-running, handling equipment along with drive shoes.

The five-member crew worked with rig contractor Ensco and the operator on the first phase of the operation from the jackupEnsco 80. They applied a 90-kJ hydraulic hammer to drive the first conductor to its target depth on the wellhead platform.

Due to cold cutting placement issues, the team decided to flame-cut the conductor online and to perform the cold cut and installation of the centralizers offline. This way they saved 3.5 hours of online time during the initial conductor-driving operation. They then applied the same practice for all installation operations for the five remaining wells.

As a result, CIS claims, the job was completed 17 hours ahead of schedule, lowering the operator’s costs in terms of reduced equipment rental fees, rig time, and labor.

The longest conductor driven measured 400 ft (122 m) from the rig floor to the conductor toe, and ultimately reached a depth of 157 ft (48 m) below the mudline of the seafloor.

02/16/2015