Aberdeen-headquartered Well-Safe Solutions has announced the creation of 60 jobs after winning a new deal to plug and abandon (P&A) 14 wells in the UK North Sea.
The deal, with an unnamed operator, is the first contract for the recently-acquired Well-Safe Defender semi-submersible rig, formerly known as the WilPhoenix, which Well-Safe Solutions bought from Awilco Drilling last month.
Well-Safe said the contract, for an undisclosed sum, will see the Defender mobilised in March next year for a timeframe of around 250 days.
The rig is currently undergoing efficiency enhancements as it joins the business as well as the completion of its recertification ahead of mobilisation.
With the creation of 60 new roles, Well-Safe’s headcount will stand at 330 by early next year.
Operations director at Well-Safe Solutions Neil Ferguson said: “This is a very exciting time for our teams, with a little over a month between Well-Safe taking ownership of the Well-Safe Defender and the signing of this contract with our latest client.”
It follows a flurry of contracts for the company, which has recently won work for Repsol Sinopec and Ithaca Energy.
Commercial manager at Well-Safe Solutions Gavin Robinson added: “We are delighted to assist our client, a leading European operator, with meeting their decommissioning obligations on these historic fields.
“Like the Well-Safe Guardian and Well-Safe Protector, the Well-Safe Defender is a dedicated decommissioning asset converted from a drilling rig.
“Clients benefit from a greatly reduced carbon footprint and quicker mobilisation times as a result, as no virgin steel is required for a new-build rig.
“In addition to the clear economic benefits of this approach, we expect this work to generate approximately 60 new positions offshore, with several supporting roles also required onshore.
“This will take the total estimated headcount in Well-Safe to 330 people in early 2023.”
This comes after Well-Safe announced a well decommissioning contract with Ithaca Energy as well as a capital funding boost of more than £50m by new and existing investors.
Well-Safe , which was established in 2017, raised the cash from a group of investors led by MW&L Capital Partners, a London-based investment and financial advisory firm.
MW&L – headed by former Goldman Sachs partners Julian Metherell and Matthew Westerman, and Peter Livanos, a member of one of Europe’s oldest shipping dynasties – Ceres Hellenic – also participated in Well-Safe’s two funding rounds in 2019 and 2020.
The new money will be used to pay for Well-Safe’s third decommissioning rig, and takes the total sum raised by the company to more than £150m.
It is estimated nearly 1,800 wells will require decommissioning in the North Sea over the next ten years.
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