28 Well Conductor Recovery off the Californian Coast

Overview

Following a successful previous project with the operator, Control Cutter was contracted to manage a significant 28 well conductor recovery operation on another platform.

Control Cutter collaborated with a third-party supplier to furnish a modular rig, designing and producing specific parts to ensure seamless integration between the rig and conductor recovery equipment.

This marked the largest project undertaken by Control Cutter, involving 920 cuts and 973 pins across the 28 wells, all in water depths of 739 feet.

Background

Situated in the Santa Barbara Channel’s Sockeye Field off the California coast, the platform has been operational since the late 1980s, significantly contributing to the region’s oil extraction history after its discovery in the 1970s.

The decommissioning process prioritises meticulous planning, emphasising worker safety and environmental preservation. Adhering to federal regulations, the project aims to completely remove the platform, including 28 conductors, in a challenging water depth of 739 feet. This project is expected to set a record for the deepest full removal platform decommissioning in U.S. federal waters.

Challenges

The project’s deep-water location and extensive well count necessitated a substantial time commitment for conductor recovery.

Control Cutter was involved early on to aid in designing and manufacturing interface structures to facilitate safe integration of the Conductor Recovery equipment onto the existing modular rig. Custom solutions were devised for the existing rig and jacking units, allowing efficient skidding of the Control Cutter equipment stack as part of the design phase.

Despite the complexity, the average time for nearly 2,000 operations remained under 5 minutes without any safety incidents or environmental impact. This successful execution demonstrates our capability as a comprehensive service provider for conductor recovery in sizable projects and showcases our proactive approach as partners in planning and executing large scale decommissioning projects.