JFO, First Subsea Team for Decommissioning

Subsea project delivery firms James Fisher Offshore (JFO) and specialist in offshore heavy lift market First Subsea have joined forces to launch a revolutionary cut and lift product that promises to streamline decommissioning projects worldwide.

A press release from the UK-based JFO said that Over the last year they have jointly explored how they could combine their industry-leading water abrasive jet cutting technology and ball and taper Internal Lifting Tools (ILT) to offer a smarter solution for the complex removal of subsea infrastructure.

The collaboration has led to the development of a one-component system, Internal Cut and Lift Technology (ICLT), which merges market-leading cutting and lifting tooling, optimised with Ballgrab gripping technology, to provide a simple, flexible and quick mechanism to remove retired subsea assets and tubulars, said the release from the James Fisher and Sons plc division.

Jack Davidson, managing director of James Fisher Offshore, said: “We see this technology as a significant move forward in our decommissioning and demolition capability and we are rapidly growing into the world’s largest equipment and service provider to this market."

“This collaboration with First Subsea strengthens our offering and exemplifies our strategy of bringing new innovative technology to the complex oil and gas market – with the potential to service other industries, including offshore wind and transport,” Jack added.

Designed with the oil and gas industry’s decommissioning projects in mind, ICLT offers a simple solution that streamlines the number of contractors, operations and personnel required on offshore platform operations.

When fully commercialised early in 2019, it will offer significant HSE, time, operational and cost benefits to customers ready to decommission late-life assets.

Greg Campbell-Smith, sales and business development director of First Subsea, said: “Conductor, riser and pile removal requires multi-discipline teams of contractors. However, by teaming up with James Fisher Offshore, we can offer clients a single service provider who can perform cut and lift decommissioning operations in fewer operations, with less personnel. We see this as a big benefit to oil companies and contractors alike.”

As operators look to capitilise on product and service innovation to help meet the Oil and Gas Authority’s target of a 35% reduction in decommissioning expenditure by 2035 , ICLT has already attracted positive feedback from major international operators and received offers of industry funding to support further advancements of the technology.