Conductor Installation Services Ltd (CIS), an Acteon company that provides hammer services to install conductors and drive piles, has completed a conductor installation operation for a North Sea oil and gas operator.

According to the company, the work was carried out on a major gas project in the Southern North Sea. CIS was retained to install six 30-inch conductors on the project to form the foundations of six development wells. In addition, CIS was required to supply cold-cutting services, and all conductor-running, handling equipment, together with drive shoes.

The five-member CIS crew worked with rig contractor Ensco and the operator to start the first phase of the operation. Working from the jack-up rig Ensco 80, CIS used a 90 kJ hydraulic hammer to drive the first conductor to its target depth on the wellhead platform.

Due to issues involving cold cutting placement, it was jointly decided that it would be best to flame-cut the conductor online and carry out the cold cut offline. By doing so, it also made it possible to install the centralisers offline. By adjusting the plan to cold cut offline, 3.5 hours of online time was saved during this initial conductor-driving operation. This practice was then applied for all installation operations required for the five remaining wells. As a result, the job was completed a full 17 hours ahead of schedule.

The longest conductor driven measured 400 feet from the rig floor to the conductor toe, ultimately reaching a depth of 157 feet below the mudline of the seafloor.

“All parties worked together to achieve the same objective: to install the conductors safely, in the quickest, most effective way possible,” said Andy Penman, Group Managing Director of CIS. “To achieve this, we invested a great deal of care and attention to the strategic planning process. I also attribute our success to the experience of our crew and the excellent working relationship we share with this valued client and everyone involved. The fact that our joint efforts resulted in completing 17 hours ahead of schedule without a single LTI is especially satisfying.”