As a specialized offshore design- and product company Future Production assists drilling industry clients in creating, producing and installing tailormade products to increase operational efficiency and safety.
A range of «household products», such as Complete Moonpool Handling Solutions, BOP/XMT Handling Systems and the FP ClickStab® System – among others – is accompanied by an ability to quickly come up with tailormade solutions to solve different client challenges as they arise.
The latter is exactly what a client needed when they encountered an unconventional problem during their work to re-open an old caisson platform on a southern North Sea oilfield.
The Challenge
– Our work in this particular case shows exactly what we as a company are capable of producing for our clients, says Torstein Bringa, CEO in Future Production.
This is the challenge he got presented from the client:
“Older wells on our oilfield needs to be re-opened. Today, an existing structure on the oilfield, mounted at the seabed, rises to the surface and provide us with an accessible gateway to start drilling new wells. But, the existing structure and our jack-up rig have inseparable movement from one another. What we need within three months is: Please design, create and implement a solution that connects our jack-up rig to the existing, old structure. The solution must enable us to arrest the movements between the existing structure and our jack-up rig, which in turn will enable us to start drilling, and, as a result, ultimately save us a whole winter-season worth of idle rig expenses and a potentially delayed first oil production.”
– The oil operator company had tried different solutions in order to cope with this problem. In the end, we were called upon to see if we could come up with a solution, Bringa says.
Future Production started their design work in August. The solution had to be installed by the end of October.
Speed, feasibility and belief
– We decided to reach out to a lot of different vendors and suppliers. Among the different feedbacks, we quickly ended up favouring Future Production and their project proposal. They managed to quickly present us with a viable and feasable solution to the problem we faced. Their operative speed clearly made them stand out from other interested parties. We believed in them, says the client.
Torstein Bringa, on his side, decided to trust his staff when they told him they could solve the client challenge as it was presented.
– The project time-frame presented to us was very limited, as we only had three months to complete an extremely challenging task. But the feedback from my staff was clear; they were adamant we could build a connection to solve the problem in time. In turn, their belief made me confident we could do it.
Project Management skills
Future Production started the initial work on their solution before the contract with the client was signed. From then on the design-work was followed up by fabrication work at Steis Mechanical Workshop in Tonstad, Norway.
From Tonstad, the complete physical solution was shipped out to the oilfield. Here, lead personnel from Future Production was supported by resources from Vinje Industrier to finalize the installation.
The installation itself was, surprisingly enough, low drama.
– I expected a lot more challenges during the actual installation of the solution. We needed to connect and pair two individually moving structures, where both had significant forces involved. This is not an easy task. Still, we succeeded with the installation without facing any major challenges, Bringa reveals.
The result was clear:
After the contract was signed with the client by the end of August, the tailor made Future Production stabilizing solution between the old structure and the rig had been successfully designed, built and installed – and within the set project time frame by the end of October.
– Extremely valuable results
The testaments from the client were clear:
– Future Production managed to provide us with an extremely valuable solution within a remarkably short space of time. The process was so well organized between the involved parties, and Future Production displayed an impressive demeanour throughout the project, the client says.
The work performed from Future Production ultimately secured both the client and the oil company valuable, operative business throughout tough winter months.
Bringa says providing measurable value for clients is a key strategy at Future Production.
– We always focus on our ability to offer clients extremely rapid problemsolving skills, and quick implementation of our products and solutions. This is extremely important for us, he states.
He continues:
– This particular project was special, but it showcases what we as a company can achieve with clients when all involved parties work together to achieve a common goal.
Safety and HSEQ key
Bringa says Future Production, despite being able to deliver rapid problem-solving solutions, never lower or loses their focus on safety and HSEQ.
– To be clear, all our work is always performed within the strict quality and safety requirements of our industry.