Ireland Block 26/28

Landmark: Designed, Engineered, Manufactured, Installed, Decommissioned, Refurbished and Reinstalled in Less Than Eighteen (18) Months on Another Field

Project Overview

• Contract Award: 1996
• Sales: Kongsberg, Norway
• Fab. Trees: Dunfermline, U.K.
• Fab. Controls: Kongsberg, Norway
• Service Base: Bergen, Norway
• Host Type: FPS-Semi
• Contract Type: Frame Agreement

Project Characteristics

• No. Trees: 2
• Water Depth: 370 m (1,210 ft)
• Tree Type: Horizontal
• Tree Pressure: 10,000 psi
• Tree Bore Size: 5"x2"
• Hydrocarbon: Oil

Project Ownership

• Arco 52%
• StatoilHydro 48%

Scope of work

• Two (2) horizontal 5"x2" 10,000 psi subsea trees
• Two (2) UWD-15 15,000 psi subsea wellheads
• Metal sealing wireline plug
• ROV interface/override facilities
• Diverless make-up of flowline and control umbilicals
• Multiplexed electro-hydraulic control system
• Diverless workover
• All metal-to-metal sealing mechanical tubing hanger
• System integration testing, installation assistance, service and maintenance

Comments

In 1996, StatoilHydro ordered two (2) horizontal subsea trees for the Connemara Field offshore Ireland in the Porcupine Basin. The Connemara Field was thought to have 36 mmbo, which could have provided 20% of Ireland’s annual oil requirements when operating at full capacity. In 1997, an exploration well was drilled, and by August 1997, after the completion of the wells, StatoilHydro's testing concluded that the Connemara Field was not commercial.

The subsea hardware was then decommissioned, refurbished, adapted and then reused to complete two (2) of the wells of the Gullfaks Field. The cost of reusing of the two (2) subsea trees was a fraction of what it would have been to purchase new hardware. This project was a milestone because it proves how flexible FMC Technologies standardized subsea equipment is and how it has the ability to be reused on different fields.