AN ABERDEEN company with more than 140 years of explosives experience within its management team says the application of explosives in the North Sea has not passed its sell-by date.
The MD of SPEX sees a healthy market for the continued use of explosives for well perforation and in-platform decommissioning.
Indeed, there are situations when, according to Gavin Drummond, it is the only effective means of accomplishing the objective, perhaps because cold-cut techniques have not accomplished a task as planned.
“However, there’s been a trend away from using explosives in general,” said Drummond. “I think a myth has built up around their use and this has had an impact.
“What we’ve been doing at SPEX is try to re-educate operators and service companies that explosives are a very useful and versatile tool when used the right way.
“That said, explosives are quite widely used in the North Sea and the oil industry generally. They’re used downhole to surface, remedial work, abandonment, chain cutting and full platform removal.”
On the decommissioning market and the potential for explosives applications, Drummond said that, while this remains immature in the North Sea, the situation in the US Gulf of Mexico was completely different.
“They’ve gone through the full cycle of decommissioning techniques, and explosives is now the leading method. In the North Sea, what you find is that there is an appetite for explosives services because it pretty much does what it says on the tin.”
But for the time being, whether it is a wellhead being stripped out or more substantial infrastructure, Drummond said explosives tend to be the fallback position rather than first choice.
SPEX concentrates on field services, consultancy, training and competence, explosive disposal, manufacturing, sales and services.
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