ITF Theme Day Pulls in More than 100 Delegates
01 July 2009
ITF, the oil and gas Industry's Technology Facilitator hosted a theme day in Aberdeen this week that attracted more than 100 delegates spanning operators, service companies, SMEs, research and academic organisations.
Designed to tackle the issues surrounding the use of Light Weight Intervention Vessels (LWIVs) for well abandonment, the theme day was sponsored by BP.
TSMarine, Fugro Well Services and Aker Qserv were just some of the Aberdeen-based oil service companies in attendance alongside ITF's members, government associations and academic institutions.
Part of an ongoing series of technology focussed events being organised by ITF throughout the year, the output from the event will lead ITF to issue a global call for proposals in August this year. This can lead to up to 100% funding for applicants with successful technology proposals.
David Liddle, operations director of ITF said:
“In terms of participation and interest, this has been our largest theme day event this year and underlines the importance of this topic. By bringing together such a large number of the industry's major operator and service companies, we were able to discuss and leverage understanding of the technology gaps that exist to perform rigless abandonment using light weight intervention vessels.
“With 220 subsea wells in the North Sea alone, subsea well abandonment is an increasingly hot topic for the sector and it's believed that over the next few years, the UK decommissioning market will be valued at around £15 billion. With the average rig rates still reaching £500,000 per day, we need to look at how we can lower the associated costs of subsea well abandonment. New approaches such as rigless intervention are changing the face of this sector but we need to truly understand the challenges we face and ensure that as an industry we can minimise environmental impact and manage costs.”
He continued:
“Our aim for the day was to engage with the industry to define the challenges and to use the ITF process to seek out innovative solutions to the benefit of the industry.
“Challenges such as removal of gauge cables, well head removal, verification of permanent barriers and annulus cementation are some of the key issues we understand but this is by no means exhaustive and the theme day allowed us to drill deeper down into the issues facing the industry in this sector.”
A not for profit organization owned by 22 major operator and service company members, ITF identifies exploration and production (E&P) technology needs and helps foster the development of new technologies by establishing joint industry projects (JIPs) with up to 100% funding available for successful, innovative technology proposals.
To date ITF has been responsible for successfully delivering over 137 collaborative and revolutionary oilfield technology projects with direct membership funding in excess of £40 million. ITF's current portfolio consists of 44 ongoing projects linked to £20 million of direct member investment.
