Protector rig heads out on first North Sea contract for Well-Safe

The Well-Safe Protector has left the Cromarty Firth on its first contract since being bought from Seadrill in 2020.

Formerly known as the West Epsilon, the Well-Safe Protector is to work for Ithaca Energy to plug and abandon (P&A) six wells on the Anglia Platform in the Southern North Sea.

Video has been captured of the rig leaving its Cromarty Firth home base – and has even been sighted from the Aberdeen coastline.

Wellsafe Protector seen from Aberdeen. Image: Jonathan Gamble Linkedin.

Although the BBC’s recent crime drama set in Aberdeen, Granite Harbour, received criticism for having platforms visible from the city’s shoreline, life has imitated art in this instance as the Protector has been spotted by north-east residents as it makes its trip south of the border.

Protector to decommission Ithaca wells

The contract between Ithaca Energy and the Aberdeen-based decommissioning firm, signed for an undisclosed sum, sees Well-Safe Solutions provide project management, well engineering and all managed delivery services for the project.

Originally set to arrive at the Anglia field in “late summer 2022”, the harsh environment jack-up rig began its journey south on Saturday.

As a result of the contract, Well-Safe Solutions created a “handful of new roles” to take on the work as the platform will directly support about 90 people offshore, as well as a further 10 people onshore, including non-Well-Safe staff.

Ithaca initially submitted plans to decommission the field in late 2019.

The normally unmanned Anglia A installation lies around 34 miles from the town of Cromer on the Norfolk coast, having ceased production in November 2015.

From West Epsilon to Protector

The Well-Safe Protector enters Cromarty Firth.

The West Epsilon was built in 1993 and acquired by Well-safe in a move that it said at the time would create around 100 new jobs.

After purchasing the rig, the Aberdeen firm performed extensive technical preparations before it set sail late last week.

Work on the platform started out at the Westcon Yard in Olensvag, Norway, before the Protector moved to the Cromery Firth to complete its upgrades.

Originally, the work on the, then-newly named, Well-Safe Protector was scheduled to wrap up by April 2021, however, the project encountered delays.

Next steps for the Well-safe Protector

After completing its work on the Anglia field with Ithaca the Protector will work for Neptune Energy in the Dutch and UK North Sea for more P&A work on at least four subsea and 21 platform wells.

The platform, formerly known as West Epsilon, will begin its work with Neptune in Q1 this year if all goes according to schedule.

Energy Voice reported earlier this year that the deal between the two north-east firms was agreed on for $30 million (£26m) and Neptune has the option to extend the one-year contract by a further two years, via eight three-month extensions.