Proserv Sets Cutting Record, Preps for Iwaki Project

Proserv Offshore has set another industry record for high-load compression cuts when it tested two cuts with 560 tons of compression on 80-in. diameter tubular. The tests are part of the company's preparation to help decommission the massive Iwaki Platform jacket off the northeast coast of Japan.

"We will conduct some of the most difficult and sophisticated cutting operations ever carried out in the Asia-Pacific region for the Iwaki project," said Robert Finch, Proserv Offshore's chief operating officer. "These tests demonstrate our ability to meet those challenges while showcasing our leadership in high technology cutting equipment and services throughout the region."

Proserv Offshore also held the industry's previous high-load compression cut record, achieved late last year with other test cuts for the Iwaki project involving more than 400 tons of compression on 42-in. diameter tubular. The cuts were made using a Proserv Offshore 2844 diamond wire-cutting tool.

Located in 154 meters of water, the eight-legged, 20,735-metric-ton Iwaki wellhead production platform is the largest in the region slated for decommissioning. As part of its contract with SapuraAcergy Sdn Bhd of Malaysia, Proserv Offshore will cut the jacket, weighing almost 16,000 metric tons, so that SapuraAcergy's DP Heavy Lift vessel, the Sapura 3000, can lift and deploy it to the seabed, creating an artificial reef.

The project is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2010.

Proserv Offshore's Asia-Pacific operations will supply all of the cutting equipment and services, including large diameter, 80-inch diamond wire cutting tools, as well as external, internal and specialized abrasive cutting systems. These will be deployed subsea by SapuraAcergy's remotely operated vehicles -- also a regional first for this size and type of equipment.