Innovative approach in Kazakhstan

CIS has teamed up with Wagenborg Foxdrill in Kazakhstan to install 38 conductors using a mobile crane and a purpose-designed land frame. This enables the conductor to be held perfectly vertically while the hydraulic hammer drives it into position. There is a significant cost saving as a drilling rig is not required. Also, this method of installation will allow the entire operation to be undertaken off the critical field development path.

Onshore rigless installation in Syria

CIS was asked to perform the first land conductor driving operation to take place in Syria without a rig. For this, we designed a purpose-built land frame to support the conductor while driving so that the operation could be completed along the critical path. We used local contractors for the welding and supervised all the work, including the positioning of the pad eyes on the conductor and the fitting of the drive shoes.

Once the worksite was correctly set up, we started driving the pipe. When the conductor reached its target depth it was cut and then left until the rig arrived on-site a week later.

Despite challenges such as the remote location and the limited resources at the worksite, the operation was highly successful. The conductor was installed off the critical path with no accidents or incidents and within a week. The client was extremely happy with the operation and the high quality of the work.

A conductor installation project offshore Turkmenistan required CIS to drive a 36-inch x 1-inch wall thickness conductor with a welded connection into the seabed to a penetration depth of at least 50 metres. We achieved this without any operational problems and to the complete satisfaction of the customer.

Offshore conductor installation in India

CIS has been installing conductors in India since January 2005. During this time, we have installed 30 slots in operations ranging from single slots to six-slot batches. All our operations have been highly successful, and our client has expressed complete satisfaction with our services and the professionalism of our crews.

CIS has a long-standing relationship and contract in place with a client in Trinidad, and, as a result, has built up a solid reputation for experienced crews, exceptional equipment and consistently high standards.

In December 2005, we performed a slot recovery operation on a well that had previously been considered for abandonment. The operation posed many challenges, including the misalignment of the platform substructure, which gave us problems when trying to retrieve the old casing. Once the slot was cleared, we utilised our conductor whipstock and our disposable camera system to stab the whipstock into place on the old conductor stump. The new conductor string then glided off the whipstock and was successfully stabbed into the seabed.

We were able to drive the pile to refusal, and the well was drilled and completed with current methods and technologies. The slot was recovered in an operation regarded by our client as a technological success.

CIS was tasked with a resolving a major problem for a client in India who was unable to set two conductors on a platform. The empty slots had previously had conductors driven across them, which meant a collision with a live well was inevitable with conventional driving. We have extensive experience in deviated conductor driving operations. We used this experience to carefully plan the project, manufacture the deviated drive shoe in the UK, ship it to India, supervise its welding to the joint and then oversee the offshore operation.
We made recommendations to the client regarding the amount of build the shoe should have to avoid collision with a live well.

Once the welding was complete, the shoe was orientated into the correct position for driving and stabbed into the seabed to ensure the conductor was driven in the right direction. After conductor installation using an S-90 Hydro hammer, we used a lightweight cold cutting system to sever the conductor ready for wellhead installation.

Both wells were completed within a deviated drive of 2.5–3% and within 0.5% of the required direction. Both are now producing. The client commended us for our services.