DECOMMISSIONING

Aberdeen oil and gas services firm gets £3.5 million BGF investment

Aberdeen-based oil and gas services firm isol8 has received a £3.5m investment from BGF to support its long-term growth plans, including doubling staff numbers during the next 12 months.

The funding will also be used to develop its zero-emissions product portfolio and expand services into the wellbore construction sector.

The company's wellbore barrier technology supports the UK Government’s ambition to drive down global methane and carbon dioxide emissions, while reducing decommissioning costs for energy firms.

Isol8 claims to be the only company in the world known to use underwater soldering to create metallurgically-bonded alloy barriers to seal off oil and gas wells.

Chief executive Andrew Loudon said: “Decommissioning is now a huge focus in the

North Sea and we’re partnering with clients to help them significantly reduce their asset retirement costs.

“Now, with the support of BGF, we are in a strong position to broaden our zeroemission product portfolio and accelerate the production of new products, including our casing annulus packers and tubing packers for well construction.”

Founded in Aberdeen in 2017, isol8’s UK team of seven has around 170 years of oilfield experience between them. It also has another research and development team of four based out of Port Townsend in Washington State.

As part of the transaction, BGF investor Richard Pugh will join the board of isol8 as an investor director, alongside newly-appointed independent director Nigel Avern; the former chief executive of Peak Well Systems.

Pugh said: “This funding round will support an exceptional management team in completing the final push to commercial adoption, working in parallel with a number of operators who have shown real commitment to the technology.

“We are also delighted that Nigel Avern has joined the board to bring his own experience of building successful energy technology businesses.”

Aker Solutions, AF Gruppen Given Go-Ahead To Create Decom JV

The Norwegian Competition Authority (NCA) has not had any objections regarding the creation of a decommissioning joint venture between AF Gruppen and Aker Solutions.

Aker Solutions informed that the transaction was subject to due diligence and final board approvals, expected to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2021.

To remind, Aker Solutions and AF Gruppen signed the letter of intent to merge the two companies’ existing offshore decommissioning operations into a 50/50 owned company on July 1, 2021.

The merger will create a global player for environmentally friendly recycling of offshore assets and provide a significant contribution towards a sustainable, green transition of the offshore sector.

It is worth noting that the recycling of steel from decommissioned oil platforms represents a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions compared with ordinary steel production.

he business concept is based on solving a significant societal challenge by removing and recycling decommissioned oil platforms. The unit aims to recycle as much of the materials from the decommissioned offshore platforms as possible.

Decommission of the offshore market has a vast untapped potential globally, with approximately 10,000 operational platforms. The North Sea alone holds a significant potential with an expectancy of more than 900,000 metric tons of top deck to be removed during the period from 2020 to 2029. This applies to the British, Norwegian, Danish, and Dutch sectors.

As for AF Offshore Decom, it managed to achieve a source separation rate of 94% for the recycling of structures where the main component is metal. Reusing steel results in 70% less CO2 emissions than ore-based production, which corresponds to an emission reduction of 1 kg CO2 per kilo of recycled steel.

According to Aker Solutions, it will take operators approximately 100 years to deplete liabilities for current assets. Thus, a further ramp-up of pace is necessary, leading to a positive contribution to the demand for this type of service. The joint company will have an order backlog of approximately $292 Mn.

Cookstown’s Decom Engineering is cutting multi-million pound global deals

Northern Irish engineering company Decom has announced that it has secured a pipeline of multi-million pound global contracts.

The announcement comes after the business raised follow-on investment from Co-Fund NI and HBAN, which will fund operations over the course of the next 14 months, including projects in Thailand, Malaysia and Canada.

The company, which recently opened a base in Aberdeen, has developed world first technologies in pipe cutting and coating removal which provide greener, faster and safer solutions for decommissioning in the energy sector.

Decom was founded by Sean Conway alongside his father and brother in 2012 and currently has a team of 14 highly qualified staff that provide green decommissioning solutions to the oil and gas industry, improving safety, efficiency, and environmental impacts across the globe.

Decom’s innovative patented subsea and offshore cold cutting saws aid in the decommissioning of old or unused oil and gas pipes into a useable product, saving hundreds of tonnes of scrap steel from being produced each year, massively reducing the industry’s carbon footprint.

The company’s Pipe Coating Removal (PCR) equipment can strip and clean decommissioned or surplus pipelines of multiple coatings so they can be repurposed for use on other projects, while its range of cold cutting saws are in demand on international decommissioning projects as oil and gas operators replace or remove ageing infrastructure and redundant assets.

Decom Engineering has previously secured £2m of investment from Co Fund NI, HBAN and private investors. By investing over £700,000 in R&D, and with R&D support from Invest Northern Ireland,

it has developed innovative new technologies and products to replace the traditional pipe cutting and coating removals processes, saving time and reducing waste and CO2 emissions during the decommissioning of old oil and gas plants and pipelines.

Sean Conway, founder and managing director of Decom Engineering, said: “We’ve invested heavily in our R&D so it’s extremely exciting that we’ve now reached the point where we have such as strong pipeline of work.

“We’re delighted to secure the funding to get our products out in the field and demonstrate how this technology will transform decommissioning in the energy sector.”

Decom Engineering has used investment up until now to fund business growth, including the recruitment of additional staff, increased marketing activity, additional manufacturing of existing products and business development.

Ian Bailey HBAN Business Angel and chairman of Decom, said: “It’s fantastic to see Decom Engineering take its product to market with follow-on investment from Co Fund NI and fellow HBAN angels, particularly with the skills and knowledge from these particular backers.

“The importance of guidance and advice from businesspeople who have grown companies in global markets can’t be underestimated and we hope to continue to support the Decom leadership through this period of growth as they dive into new possibilities.”

Expro completes first subsea abandonment intervention riser project with drilling contractor for Petronas operations in Mauritania

Expro, announced it has successfully completed an integrated Plug and Abandonment (P&A) contract valued at more than $20 million for a subsidiary of PETRONAS, PC Mauritania 1 Pty Ltd (PCMPL), which manages offshore operations in Mauritania, West Africa.

The well intervention scope of the P&A project, utilised Expro’s integrated Open Water Intervention Riser System (OWIRS) for successful

intervention and barrier placement on 15 wells for PCMPL’s Chinguetti Field Phase II works. The system’s compact nature provided considerable time savings by retrieving the subsea trees without an additional run. This was further enhanced by the efficient parallel deployment of the OWIRS and rig blow out preventor from the auxiliary well and primary well centre through the rig’s dual derrick capabilities.

Expro’s onshore project management team, based in Kuala Lumpur and locally onshore in Mauritania, supported PCMPL throughout the project planning and execution phases. Expro provided a range of integrated services, including the subsea well access system, surface flowhead, umbilicals, topsides control equipment and installation and an intervention workover control system (IWOCS) package for controlling both the OWIRS and Xmas tree systems. Worldwide Oilfield Machine (WOM) worked closely with Expro as an alliance partner providing the subsea well access system and a technical support team.

Graham Cheyne, Expro’s Vice President of Well Access and Subsea, commented: “The OWIRS system is a highly reliable compact system with an extensive track record in riser to surface subsea well access operations. This system performed over 250 functions during the project with 100% operational uptime and no nonproductive time (NPT) incurred. To further demonstrate its reliability post operation, a gas testing program of work was successfully performed on completion of the 15 wells, prior to any post job maintenance being carried out and before readiness for the next project.

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