Subsea Wellhead Removal

NCA’s Subsea Wellhead Picker offers an environmentally friendly alternative for severing and removing subsea wellheads without the requirement for a costly drilling rig. The Wellhead Picker is a combination of a connector that latches onto the wellhead and the Internal Multistring Cutting Tool (IMCT). The IMCT uses the extremely effective Abrasive Waterjet Cutting method to sever all the layers of casing (plus any cement, centralisers etc.) in one go.

The Subsea Wellhead Picker can be run from a vessel and is deployed from a heave compensated crane over the vessel side or through the moon pool. At the seabed, the IMCT is stabbed into the inner casing and lowered to cutting depth, typically 15ft (5m) below the mudline, where it performs the multistring cut.

As soon as the cut is completed, the wellhead can be lifted off and recovered to surface with the lifting connector.

The system has been field proven for cutting from 7" to 36" and capable of cutting at water depths down to 1500ft (500m).

Applications

• Removal of redundant subsea wellheads
• Exploration or production wells
• Individual wellheads or wellheads installed in templates

Features and Benefits

• Can be operated from a vessel and does not require drill pipe or work string
• Cutting and recovery of wellhead in one deployment
• No need to reposition vessel during the operation
• The IMCT produces a clean and even cut for easier and safer recovery and handling of the wellhead at the surface
• Eliminates hazardous handling of drill pipe or explosive charges 
• Cutting is insensitive to compression in casing and works on centric or eccentric casing, with or without cement in annuli
• Superior cutting speed – typically 1-4 hours efficient cutting time or 8-12 hours roundtrip time deck to deck
• Stand alone, rigless surface package
• Computer based control and monitoring system

This service is also offered as an all-inclusive multiwell/multiclient program.