An offshore reserve response team has been formed by the Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC) and Wood Group PSN in case of a deepwater well control incident in the US Gulf.

Made up of 100 personnel, the team will be activated should MWCC’s modular capture vessels (MCVs) be needed to respond to an incident, according to Wood Group PSN. The team would be deployed to a well control incident to operate the processing equipment on the MCVs, should MWCC’s expanded containment system (ECS) be required to cap and flow a well.

In this situation, the system redirects the flow of fluids from the deepwater well to the MCVs through flexible pipes and risers. Using modular, adaptable process equipment installed on the capture vessel, the system is designed to separate liquids from gas, flare the gas and safely store the liquids until transferred to a shuttle tanker and taken to shore.

The selection and training of the reserve response team is an important step in the progress of the ECS, it continued. Primarily based in southern Louisiana, the reserve response team members will be hand-selected by Wood Group PSN and trained to operate and maintain equipment onboard the MCVs during a response. The team will meet regularly for ongoing training and remain ready to respond to a deepwater well control incident.

“We look forward to working with Wood Group PSN to identify a team of exceptional operations personnel to operate the processing equipment on the MCVs during a response,” said Marty Massey, chief executive officer of Marine Well Containment Company, in the release. “We are pleased to be able to tap into the skilled and industry-experienced workforce of Louisiana and other Gulf States to achieve our mission to be continuously ready to respond with the expanded containment system.”

Derek Blackwood, Wood Group PSN Americas president, added, “This latest initiative underlines the ongoing advancements in safer deepwater exploration and we are proud to be working with MWCC to develop a team of experienced oilfield operations personnel capable of responding to a potential deepwater well control incident in the US Gulf of Mexico.” He added that the company will be responsible for identifying and selecting the response team, delivering ongoing training, and mobilising the team as and when required.

The ECS, which will be made available by MWCC later this year, is designed to be able to cap and flow wells in up to 3,048 m (10,000 ft) of water. It will also be able to contain up to 100,000 barrels of liquid per day.

- Wood Group also confirmed it has secured 11 new contracts in Africa totalling approximately US $240m over the past 12 months. The contracts were awarded to Wood Group PSN, Wood Group GTS and Wood Group Mustang for projects in five African nations. Wood Group PSN won contracts to provide operations/maintenance and construction services to clients in Equatorial Guinea, Chad and Algeria. Wood Group GTS secured a long-term service agreement covering two GE Frame 9E gas turbines for an operator in Ghana. Wood Group Mustang, meanwhile, is providing detailed engineering for wellhead platforms, a production processing platform and a living quarters platform for a project offshore Angola.

Offshore