Subsea Wellhead Retrieval

Hello there,

The African country I am currently working at does not have any specific guidelines for P&A of a subsea deepwater well. And task at my hand is to put up a document proposing either to leave the WH in Situ or cut and retrieve it. (WD 660m), The general understanding is to use the best industry practices when no guidelines by government. Document that I am preparing could be used to present to govt to put up a case. (In case I conclude to leave it in situ which is what I am leaning towards because of WD),

In my search for IMO regulations, I stumbled upon London protocol 1996 as well as 2019 Annex 8 (revised guidelines for manmade structures at sea) but they are not clearly helping me for the Water depth aspect. The only document is clear and can be used to leave the WH in situ could be a reference to Norsok D10 which is pretty clear about it, 

I am also aware of Comparative assessment exercise by reputed consultant to reach the informed decision for decommissioning of a field and conclude decision on subsea structure, but it doesn't make financial sense to do such exercise for a single well abandonment. 

I am looking for guidance, direction to further enhance my search in order to conclude my proposal sensibly having looked at all relevant regulations or guidelines. If such studies are done already and if i get access to such reports it would be cherry on the cake! :-D 

thanks for reading and your answers, 

11 Answer(s)

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