A promising start to 2025 with contracts valued at more than £2 million secured in the first quarter has positioned Decom Engineering (Decom) for further international growth.
The subsea cutting specialist has secured a chain cutting scope in the Gulf of Mexico in which it will deploy its new ultra-light and neutrally buoyant C1-16 chopsaw to cut studless mooring chains, while in South America a Decom team are preparing to mobilise on a 300 day campaign offshore Brazil where two C1-16 chopsaws will cut multiple link mooring chains of up to 142 mm diameter.
Added to a project due to start offshore Nigeria involving tender cutting and flexible riser cutting scopes, Decom’s reputation for tackling challenging oil and gas infrastructure inspection, repair, maintenance and decommissioning projects has been cemented with ongoing investment in R&D which extends the company’s portfolio of versatile cutting technologies.
Decom Engineering commercial director, Nick McNally, said: “Our continued growth is underpinned by listening to our customers’ needs and devising innovative and sustainable solutions using our existing tools, and where necessary designing and building new variations of our proven technologies.”
“Contract wins to date in the Americas, Africa and in our own North Sea backyard, as well as in western Australia, are continuing to build on a strong track record of successfully completing challenging projects in the world’s major oil and gas regions.”
Decom recognised the need to devise neutrally buoyant integration for its cutting tools when it was last year commissioned to assist with the removal of 30 in. conductors – with flexible risers inside – on the Brent Charlie platform in the UKCS.
Due to the seabed conductor layout and restricted 3 metre width access, Decom’s C1-32 Chopsaw had to be neutrally buoyant in seawater and easily manoeuvreable with a single ROV.
Weighing approximately 6700 kg in air but only 50 kg in seawater and with a blade diameter of 2100 mm, the C1-32 assisted with the cutting of 40 multi-string conductors, many with the added challenge of loose internal strings.
Nick McNally added: “By analysing past campaigns in challenging environments including the Indian Ocean and the North Sea, we have fine-tuned our designs to perform seamlessly in extreme conditions.
“The development and integration of enhanced blade technology such as replaceable tips, custom deployment frames, and increased operational flexibility ensures that our tools are equipped to handle even the most demanding offshore operations with precision and reliability.
“On several projects we have been asked to assist on structural removal scopes after other cutting technologies have proven not to be capable and this contingency role is now moving Decom into a position where we are becoming the first choice on larger and more complex scopes.”