Well intervention

Helix is a global leader in subsea well intervention. Our services and capabilities cover the lifecycle of a subsea oil and gas field and are critical to maximizing production economics and safely decommissioning end-of-life wells and infrastructure.

We have decades of experience in the industry supporting oil and gas producers to maximize the recovery of their existing subsea fields, mitigating the need for new offshore drilling.

From playing a key role in the Gulf of Mexico, Macondo deepwater oil spill response to end-of-life P&A work, Helix Well Ops is the established leader in rigless subsea well intervention, providing efficient, flexible and high-quality well management services.

With more than 1,600 well intervention operations performed around the world, our project teams and offshore crews deliver unrivaled experience and real-world expertise.

Our state-of-the-art well intervention vessels and subsea well access systems operating worldwide serve as work platforms to enhance production from deepwater and shallow water subsea wells through wireline, coiled tubing intervention, hydraulic stimulation and dry tree intervention. 

We perform these types of subsea well intervention works at project costs significantly lower than drilling rigs, with the versatility to perform both riser-based and riserless interventions. 

In addition, we can also perform a variety of decommissioning operations including temporary and permanent plugging and well abandonment at cessation of production (CoP).

Maximizing reserves of existing subsea fields

Deepwater Abandonment Alternatives (DAA), a wholly owned subsidiary of Helix, and enables Helix to own, operate and abandon satellite wells and subsea infrastructure located in the deepwater GOM. We can offer more than well suspension services – we provide proven production enhancement services for subsea and topside wells and a highly skilled workforce for full field decommissioning services.

DAA will acquire ownership in subsea wells and infrastructure having modest production and limited value in transactions that have a low purchase price or are acquired on assignment. Helix is a low-risk option to abandon wells and infrastructure in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) with a history of safe operations that have been performed in accordance with BOEM / BSEE regulations.

Helix has a proven track record in the worldwide deepwater abandonment business having worked on abandonment and suspension operations in the UK North Sea, Brazil, Australia and Gulf of Mexico. Helix has been successful in acquiring and safely operating production in the GOM, as evidenced by their experience spanning 20+ years with a prior subsidiary, Energy Resource Technology (ERT).

Leaders in safe well containment

The Helix Fast Response System (HFRS) is a compilation of our Company’s unique assets, experience, preparedness, dedication to industry safety and past offshore spill response emergencies.

Based on the lessons learned and technologies developed for the BP Macondo spill response in 2010, Helix developed the HFRS to respond to future spills. The HFRS combines services offered by both the Helix Producer I (HPI) and either the Q4000 or the Q5000 vessels, depending upon availability and location. During the BP Macondo spill, the HPI processed oil and gas discharged from the well and the Q4000 deployed the cofferdam, burned off oil and gas from the well and recovered the Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer. The HPI, Q4000 and Q5000 all operate in the Gulf of Mexico to form a strategic team to react to and assist with well control and containment efforts.

Calling off working vessels is operationally preferable to a modular system that would take longer to deploy and may go untested for extended periods. The HFRS uses the proven methodologies from Macondo to provide spill response capacity.

Since February 2011, the HFRS has been cited as the spill response system of record for more than 200 new drilling permits issued in the Gulf of Mexico. At full production capacity, the HPI is capable of producing 55,000 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) and 95 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of gas at 10,000 psi in water depths to 10,000 feet.  In addition, the Q4000 and Q5000 have been outfitted to accommodate a temporary process package that can handle 130,000 BOPD and 220 MMSCFPD at 10,000 psi in water depths to 10,000 feet.

The HFRS continues to be named as a well control resource in customers’ permit applications and is a powerful tool in the industry’s arsenal to help mitigate and remediate the environmental risks associated with offshore drilling and production operations in the Gulf of Mexico.

Our Intervention services

 

Subsea Hydraulic Well Intervention (HWI) 

Including scale squeeze, well stimulation, well testing and clean-up and sand removal.

Hydraulic well intervention (HWI)

Subsea Mechanical Well Intervention (MWI) 

Including Installing pump through plug in DHSV/SCSSV, Gas lift valve change-out, sand screen repair, sand consolidation, fixing tubing failure, leaking tubing or seal failure and choke change-out.

Mechanical well intervention (MWI)

Well integrity

The ability to maintain and/or establish a well barrier during the life cycle of a well including production tubing, annulus integrity, subsea Christmas tree and wellhead integrity.

Well integrity

Where to next?

Riser-based

Riser-based well intervention for well enhancement, workover or abandonment operations.

Riserless

Increase your recovery rates with efficient riserless well intervention alternatives to rig-based operations.

Experience

Our experience defines us as a company. It’s the single most important edge we can share with you.