International oilfield services company Expro has been awarded a contract on July 15 by Pacific Drilling LLC’s subsidiary, Pacific Santa Ana Ltd., for the provision of an intervention riser system (IRS) for Petronas’ Chinguetti Field Phase II plug and abandonment (P&A) contract, offshore Mauritania. 

The contract, valued at $20 million, will see Expro provide its IRS system with associated surface support equipment, to be deployed from Pacific Drilling’s drillship, Pacific Santa Ana. The contracted work will take place for an estimated 360 days.

Worldwide Oilfield Machine will support Expro with the provision of the subsea well access system and technical support team.

The IRS safely establishes and maintains well access throughout riser to surface operations, replicating the functionality of the blow-out preventer and providing a safe and reliable means of well control, connected directly to the production tree. With increased coiled tubing cutting and disconnect capability, the IRS system provides an alternative dual barrier, through-tubing system.

The award includes supplying a range of services, including the subsea well access system, lubricator valve, surface flowhead, umbilicals, topsides control equipment and IWOCS (installation and workover control system) package. Expro will also provide an onshore project management team to support Pacific Drilling throughout the project planning and execution phases, based in Expro’s office in Kuala Lumpur and then locally onshore in Mauritania. 

Expro recently expanded its subsea intervention capabilities with the introduction of the IRS system and a riserless well intervention system, which provides a through-water integrated solution for carrying out cost effective intervention and abandonment operations on all types of subsea wells.

“We welcome the opportunity to support Pacific Drilling by providing our technology and services, which will enhance the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the field P&A process from their high specification drillship,” Colin Mackenzie, subsea vice president at Expro, said.