Leading independent wells expert, Elemental Energies, has been selected by TotalEnergies to perform preliminary engineering for one of the largest subsea decommissioning campaigns to be undertaken in the North Sea.
The decommissioning of the wells portfolio in the Gryphon field will be the largest subsea plug and abandonment (P&A) campaign TotalEnergies has undertaken. Project planning began this summer with decommissioning currently expected to run to the end of the decade. The project scope includes a field level well integrity overview and preliminary assessment of P&A requirements for all wells.
Julie Copland, Head of Decommissioning and Low Carbon at Elemental Energies, said: “The Gryphon project’s scale is an excellent opportunity to showcase the value of an expert-led, integrated wells and subsurface approach to field-wide decommissioning. Our team has extensive experience in delivering these types of collaborative projects which have been shown to reduce costs and unlock efficiencies for our clients and our expectation is that the work we will perform on this preliminary engineering will demonstrate this to TotalEnergies.
“We believe that combining the experience of our leading wells engineering with our subsurface partners early in the planning phase is critical to minimising risks during projects such as this. At a time when the need to safely and efficiently decommission assets in the North Sea is accelerating, it is encouraging to see operators such as TotalEnergies recognising this and taking steps to responsibly address their liability.”
The Gryphon FPSO is located 201 miles north east of Aberdeen, at a water depth of 112m. It began production in 1993 with production peaking in 1995 at ca. 50,000bbl/d.
Following the acquisition of Senergy Wells, Elemental Energies acquired Norwell Engineering in May 2023 and is expected to announce further acquisitions over the coming 18 months. Elemental Energies is committed to supporting the global energy transition by providing world-leading technical capabilities, placing well engineering at the heart of upstream, decommissioning, and low carbon projects.
