Claxton Has Success With Norwegian Drilling Riser

GREAT YARMOUTH, U.K. - April 12, 2013 - PRLog -- When Statoil wanted to use the West Elara jackup rig to install a high-pressure drilling riser for two subsea wells in the deep water of Gullfaks satellite field off the coast of Norway, Claxton were given a very tight schedule of 8 months to complete the work in. The schedule included the design, build and installation of the riser within this short time frame.

With the support of Acteon sister companies 2H Offshore, Pulse Structural Monitoring and Subsea Riser Products (SRP), Claxton project managed this high pressure task. Not only did the team deliver a bespoke and innovatively engineered riser solution for Statoil, but also managed to bring them an advanced monitoring system to track the performance of the installation.

As the project was in relatively deep water for jackup rigs (132m) - installations such as this have a very short track record, few jackup rigs being used in depths greater than 100m or in harsh conditions – it was somewhat of a challenge for Claxton and its sister companies.

Derren Bowyer, the project manager from Claxton, explains the challenge that was faced in Norway:

“For jackup operations, deep water is depths over 80 m. The depth at which jackup rigs can operate is determined by their leg length. Average jackup rigs are built for 80–100-m water depths; only the larger rigs are capable of deeper operations. New large jackup rigs are now built to work in depths to 150 m, so 132 m was a significant challenge. The main issue is that systems for shallow water environments do not scale up to the needs of deeper water. The greater depth means increased deflections for the jackup rig and the drilling riser caused by currents and waves, and that thewhole system is subjected to increased loading.”

With more than 20 years experience of deploying drilling risers (http://www.claxtonengineering.com/Products/Drilling-Riser...) Claxton was well prepared to undertake this difficult project, ensuring that the jackup rig was installed quickly and efficiently.

Claxton’s 20 years of experience also extends to a wide range of drilling industry solutions across the world. Their wide range of rental tools & adaptors (http://www.claxtonengineering.com/Products/Rental-Tools-A...) include various solutions for almost any application in the industry. Wellhead design and supply is also offered by Claxton, their independent nature meaning that they are not tied to any one manufacturer and can provide interfaces or other systems not covered by many other suppliers.

Claxton pride themselves on their fast, reliable and bespoke service. Headquartered in Great Yarmouth, UK, their engineers have a wealth of experience allowing them to provide wellhead and drilling services that are cost effective and suited to varying requirements.