Wild Well Control adds new subsea capping stack in Singapore
Wild Well Control adds new subsea capping stack in Singapore
HOUSTON – Wild Well Control, Inc., a Superior Energy Services company and a global leader in firefighting and well control, has unveiled its new subsea capping stack for response to a global deepwater well control incident.
The subsea capping stack, located in Singapore, is a part of Wild Well Control’s comprehensive emergency response system, which provides experienced personnel and equipment to plan, prepare and respond to global subsea well control events. Based on nearly four decades of conventional and subsea well control experience, the WellCONTAINED system includes the physical capping stack and equipment, and also technical planning, advanced engineering and response training.
The Singapore capping stack is Wild Well Control’s second unit; the first capping stack unit is located in Aberdeen. The full intervention system at each location includes a capping stack, debris removal shears, hardware kits for the subsea application of dispersant and inhibition fluids at a wellhead and ancillary equipment.
A total of 38 oil and gas operators have joined Wild Well Control's spill containment consortium. Consortium members, such as Exxon Mobil, Total and Statoil, have made a five-year, fee-based commitment. Certain operators, such as BP and Shell, have built their own capping stacks, but may depend on companies, such as Wild Well Control, for their emergency response services. Two of the existing capping stacks, built by the MWCC and Helix consortia, are dedicated to the Gulf of Mexico.
The new 18-3/4-in., 15,000 psi capping stack is available for a variety of offshore conditions and designed for subsea use up to 10,000 ft. The system is maintained in a state of readiness and can quickly be transported by sea or air.
“Since we now have two capping stacks geographically located in the northern and southern hemispheres, our team at Wild Well can provide an enhanced level of response to a client’s well site,” said Freddy Gebhardt, president at Wild Well. “Our flexibility to deploy from two strategic locations now mitigates any potential delays due to deployment constraints and adds another level of assurance to the operators’ drilling programs while positioning Wild Well as the global leader in subsea well control.”
Gebhardt told a media briefing in Houston that the capping stack program required $22 million in capital costs and an annual expense of about $1 million to service and test the stacks to a level of readiness required quickly to an emergency event.
Wild Well responds to 80% of international well control incidents and is a key resource for many of the world’s largest oil and gas operators, during emergency events, but also in the planning and preparedness of drilling programs.
