Organic Learning Curve Drastically Increases Efficiency of Novel Platform Installation with a Jack-Up Rig in Brunei

Abstract In the global landscape, more and more operators were observed to have recently adopted the rig-installed platform methodology as a solution for low-cost development concept to avoid the high cost of bringing Heavy Lift Vessels in and to enable acceleration of project delivery, taking the advantage of the availability of the drilling rig in the Operators’ activity sequence. Despite the growth of the application, this methodology is still considered novel due to the sporadic nature of this operation for drilling rigs as well as the limited niche service providers that operate in this domain. The Operator recently completed two Wellhead Platform installations in Brunei which were the first for the Operator and they were spaced less than 8 months apart. The first platform is called E1 and the second one E2. While this was clearly new and novel to the Operator and Drilling Contractor, a system and a process were set up to ensure the learnings from E1 could be implemented to the fullest extent to improve E2 installation, as efficiently as the learning curve of traditional drilling or completion operations. The two platforms are fundamentally similar in respect to the type of structure which is 4-legged, conductor supported platform. The only key differentiation is the weight that E2 is considerably heavier than E1 which gets very close to the maximum lift capacity of the jack-up rig. Both structures were carefully engineered to suit the typical modern offshore drilling rig lifting capability, and they're to be installed in water depth of 60m to 65m. The process also involved the tendering exercise of the drilling rig whereby the element of platform installation is included in the scope of works to ensure full alignment and support from the selected Drilling Contractor. This paper describes the requirements set at the planning stage that focuses on the drilling rig scope, to ensure that the risks were identified and discussed. Single point failure analysis was undertaken to make sure that all the failure modes were understood and all the required mitigations were in place. The high-level operational activity is also addressed along with the operational challenges that were encountered and how the team formulated solutions to avoid similar challenges from reoccurring in the second installation. Furthermore, the paper explains how the organic learner's mindset was key for each and every team member to intrinsically action all the lessons learned and enable the E2 platform installation to be completed significantly faster than E1 while eliminating some of safety hazards observed in the first installation.