Trendsetter Engineering, Inc., a leader in subsea equipment design and manufacture, have been contracted to provide access to the RWIS Toolkit. In the unlikely event of an uncontrolled release during the Drilling Phase of the Scarborough project, the RWIS Toolkit may be utilized as a key component of the Response hardware. With this contract, Woodside Energy have positioned themselves at the forefront of environmental stewardship, further solidifying their place in industry as technology leaders in the pursuit of safe energy development.

The RWIS Toolkit facilitates high rate kill requirements through a single relief well and is a critical piece of subsea equipment placed on the seabed below the BOPs of a primary and secondary Relief Well Drilling Rig. In the event of a loss of well containment, this equipment is called upon to assist with dynamic kill operations via a single relief well. The system allows for the supply of high mud pumping rates via a single relief well intercept that would otherwise require two or more relief wells minimum to achieve. As a result, the RWIS can typically allow for drilling of prolific reservoirs that previously challenged the ability to provide a single relief well contingency.

“The RWIS has been designed and built to enable operators to stop a blowout from prolific reservoirs safely and efficiently via a single relief well by increasing the pump rate of kill mud into the blowing well.” said Brett Morry, Product Service Line Manager at Trendsetter Engineering. The RWIS is capable of pumping more than 200 barrels of kill mud per minute through a single relief well; three times as much kill fluid as is typically achievable. Per Brett Morry, “This is a significant advance for the industry which can now drill a single relief well as opposed to the alternative method requiring multiple relief wells. In regions where offshore assets are in short supply, this becomes a critical means to ensure single relief well contingency.”

The RWIS not only makes potential relief well operations safter, it can also lead to a potential economically improved development plan. Again, per Brett Morry, “In purchasing access rights to the RWIS toolkit, operators are now able to still comply with legislation but reduce the number of wells required to meet production targets by increasing the completion size of the well bore, reducing CAPEX costs and maximizing production.”