UK contractor EnerMech has been tapped by supermajor ExxonMobil to decommission the flowlines associated with the Hoover Diana development in the deepwater US Gulf. The value of the contract was not disclosed. The deal marks EnerMech’s first major decommissioning job in the region.
According to the contractor, it will deploy a team from its Energy Solutions division, including specialists in coiled tubing, pressure pumping, chemical services, filtration, separation, and pipeline gauging to conduct the on-site work.
EnerMech’s scope includes flushing and pigging subsea pipelines to remove hydrocarbons and prepare for decommissioning. The job includes flushing the umbilical and pipeline, and seawater fill operations for the subsea flowline loop, as well as nitrogen flushing via subsea vessel, coiled tubing services, and final seawater filling for the Northern Diana flowline.
“With many offshore assets reaching the end of their life cycle, the decommissioning market in the Gulf of Mexico is expanding rapidly,” said Charles ‘Chuck’ Davison Jr., chief executive at EnerMech. “This project positions us for future growth in this critical sector.”
Additional contract awards related to the decommissioning of Hoover Diana are likely to be forthcoming.
The $1.1 billion Hoover Diana project was developed using a deep-draft caisson vessel (DDCV) host located in Alaminos Canyon Block 25, about 160 miles south of Galveston, Texas, in 4,800 ft of water. The fields themselves are located on the border between the Alaminos Canyon and East Breaks areas— Hoover in Block 25, and Diana in East Breaks Block 945.
Hoover was mainly an oil find, while Diana was both oil and gas. Diana initially came on stream in May 2000 as a subsea tieback to the DDCV. Hoover followed that September. Together, the fields held an estimated recoverable resource topping 300 million BOE.
One satellite field, Diana South in Alaminos Canyon Block 65, produced gas condensate via a single-well tieback starting in 2004.
At the time of its installation, the Hoover DDCV was the world’s deepest water drilling and production platform.
