• Oil and gas

Safety system finds success

The Weak Link Bail (WLB) safety system has been successfully deployed in its first operation outside the North Sea in an eight-well completion campaign off the coast of Western Australia.

One of Scan Tech AS’s WLB systems was successfully deployed last year on a rental basis in support of an oil major’s campaign in the Gorgon gas field. The system was originally designed for North Sea offshore rigs, so this new, short term application marks a significant development for the company.

This project saw the first set of WLBs deployed outside the Norwegian oil and gas sector, where the safety system is already widely in use. The ability to rent a WLB system is part of a new commercial strategy for Scan Tech which aims to make this essential safety technology available to a broader market, enabling customers to take advantage of the safety innovation for shorter periods during completion, well testing, well intervention and workover riser (WOR) operations.

 Chris Stevens, managing director of Scan Tech AS explains:

“Our WLB system has proven success in many applications and oil majors have purchased multiple sets for use in their own operations. However, for some customers the number of campaigns and anticipated frequency of use makes the purchase of a WLB system difficult to justify. Some companies prefer to rent fully serviced equipment rather than own it. This first rental of a fully supported system demonstrates our response to the different needs of the industry and we are extremely pleased this campaign has been executed successfully."

Chris adds:

“It clearly demonstrates both our innovative technology and ability to support oil majors during critical operations around the world.”

The project was so successful that the oil major is considering a hire extension of WLBs for further work during 2015.