Customer Challenges
- A major UKCS decommissioning campaign spanning almost 12 years encompassed 155 wells across the Southern North Sea and East Irish Sea, creating recurring operational challenges and opportunities to continually improve well decommissioning execution
- The operator required safe, repeatable barrier assurance methodologies while reducing rig time, personnel exposure and operational complexity across successive wells
- Expro worked collaboratively with the operator and technology partner Lee Energy Systems to identify recurring challenges, develop practical solutions and embed successful innovations into subsequent campaign execution
Expro Excellence
Well preparation
- Expro’s Tubular Running Services supported completion recovery to prepare wells for permanent isolation
Barrier Assurance
- Expro’s CX-2 bridge plug provided a proven foundation for abandonment operations, completing more than 190 runs during the campaign
- Expro and Lee Energy Systems developed an integrated, explosive-free Single Trip Perforate-Circulate-Squeeze methodology combining Expro barrier assurance technologies with the Gator hydromechanical perforating system
- Following successful trial wells, the operator incorporated the CX-SV Squeeze Packer into its environmental cap philosophy, providing a repeatable approach to environmental cap placement
Operational efficiency in action
- The CX-Ball provided a safer and more efficient method of deploying foam wiper balls, with more than 200 deployed during the campaign
- The Drop Drift Cleaner addressed the recurring challenge of cleaning upper drill-pipe stands following cementing, cleaning more than 200,000 ft of drill pipe and delivering more than 66 days of cumulative rig-time saving
Value to Client
- Successful innovations were embedded into subsequent campaign execution rather than remaining isolated technology trials
- Fewer trips in hole and simplified operations reduced personnel exposure and improved operational flexibility
- Solutions developed in response to recurring operational challenges generated repeatable benefits across the wider well portfolio
- Continuous learning across successive wells enabled incremental improvements to deliver measurable value at campaign scale
