Collaboration and Well Project Management holds the key to Brasse Well success

While improvements in working practices and technological innovations are changing the way wells are delivered, different outcomes and unpredictable scenarios are often accepted as a given in the E&P industry.

The Faroe Petroleum project in the Norwegian North Sea is an example of how strong collaboration between an Operator and an independent team and skilled Project Management can make a huge difference to the outcome of a project.

AGR was appointed to provide Well Management services and to project manage the drilling of an exploration well and technical sidetrack on the Brasse discovery, located 120km west of Bergen.

The prospect proved to be one of the largest discoveries recently made on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. It was also the first in Norway to be delivered under an ‘all in one’ cost agreement for pre-lay of anchors and chains.

The challenge

Cost effectiveness and highest HSEQ performance required

AGR’s Well Management team was tasked with designing and project managing the drilling of the exploration well. It was an important project, with big expectations surrounding it.

There was an unrelenting focus on cost and also on the environmental impact, due to the well being located in a highly active fishing area. So the dual priorities of delivering the well on budget and achieving the highest HSEQ standards defined the character of the challenge for us.

Added to this, the team was to be involved in bringing the cold-stacked semi-submersible Transocean Arctic back to perfect working order.

The AGR solution

Investing in collaboration and building trust from the start

Aside from the project management skills that were going to decide the success of this assignment, it was clear that in this client AGR had the basis for a strong, trust-based-collaborative way of working – a way that could maximise project efficiency from the outset.

Time spent assembling the right team of experts, partners, supply chain and regulators at the beginning is time well spent. With over thirty years of experience in delivering world-class well solutions, AGR knows that investing in relationships and aligning project teams – including supply chain partners – increases predictability of outcomes and contributes heavily to project success.

This was also the first well in Norway to be drilled with a lump sum agreement in place for pre-lay of anchors and chains – providing greater cost certainty for the client and allowing the mooring system to be deployed and ready 60 days before the rig arrived and at a fixed price.