Wellhead and valve maintenance services to continue in North Sea

SIMMONS EDECO, a leading supplier of wellhead and valve maintenance and onshore drilling services to the global oil and gas industry, announced that it has been awarded a multi-million pound contract by a major North Sea oil and gas operator.

Celebrating 13 years of service

The recent award means that SIMMONS EDECO will continue to provide wellhead and valve maintenance services for all of the operator’s assets in the North Sea, where it has been working on behalf of the company since 2003.

“By working with this valued customer over the past 13 years, we have developed a very positive working relationship, and a thorough understanding of their operations in the North Sea,” said Gavin Sherwood, Business Development Manager for SIMMONS EDECO. “As a result, we are able to respond immediately when unforeseen challenges arise, and to provide them with innovative, cost-effective solutions to meet their asset integrity management needs. It is very rewarding that the company continues to put its faith in SIMMONS EDECO by awarding this key contract.”

In addition to maintaining wellheads, SIMMONS EDECO will deliver onshore repair and refurbishment services, equipment management and supply, and bespoke engineering solutions. To ensure integrity of all production valves, the company will also continue to operate its ongoing programme of valve integrity testing and maintenance.

Testing valves, safely and reliably

To fulfil the contract, SIMMONS EDECO will use its full suite of specialist wellhead and valve maintenance equipment. Central to the range are its custom-designed “flush and grease” pumps that SIMMONS EDECO uses to service production and wellhead valves. With an operating capacity of up to 15 000 psi and the ability to carry out pressure tests, these pumps perform safely and reliably in the harshest environments. In terms of safety and impact on the environment, they are a dramatic improvement over the traditional grease pumps that are the current industry standard.

48 hours: speedy repair work allows production to resume

Earlier this year, SIMMONS EDECO’s rapid response to a call from the operator made it possible for the company to bring one of its key producing wells, back into production quickly. The well had stopped flowing because an actuator spring on the wells production Christmas Tree had failed. The customer was unable to source a replacement, so it contacted SIMMONS EDECO, which maintains critical spare stock for a number of clients. Within 48 hours, SIMMONS EDECO sourced a spring replacement and mobilised a team of wellhead maintenance engineers to the offshore installation where they replaced the broken spring in situ, and repaired the actuator. This allowed the operator to bring the well back online, dramatically reducing costly downtime.

“An extended shutdown of this particular well would have had an extremely negative impact on their production, so we were very happy that we could help them resolve this issue so quickly,” said Sherwood.

The two-year contract, which features three one-year options to renew, is being supported by SIMMONS EDECO from its European base of operations in Great Yarmouth, England.

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/offshore-and-subsea/02052016/wellhead-and-valve-maintenance-services-to-continue-in-north-sea/