Trendsetter Vulcan Offshore (TVO), a developer of innovative solutions for the offshore industry, has completed a unique tethered blowout preventer (TBOP) installation in the Gulf of America (GoA) to reduce wellhead fatigue in soft seabed conditions.

“Exacting subsea environments require safe and reliable solutions, and TVO is meeting that need with tailored systems developed from proven designs,” says TVO President Jim Maher. “Because our experts have an intimate understanding of our technologies, they can rapidly adapt them for site-specific conditions to deliver the effective performance the industry has come to expect from our solutions.”

TVO’s proprietary technology was essential in enabling the execution of a recent completion project for an operator in the Central GoA. The Hercules™ TBOP system was originally developed specifically to allow a deepwater floater fitted with a dynamic positioning system to work safely in shallow water. The basic system configuration employs four polyethylene-based tethers anchored to suction pile foundations on the seabed, arresting BOP stack motion above the wellhead and transferring loads to the tethering system, foundations, and seabed to substantially reduce wellhead cyclic stresses and enhance fatigue life.

Operations on this well, in nearly 4,000 ft water depth, were challenging due to the extremely soft seabed in the vicinity of the well, which created the potential for higher-than-normal fatigue loading on the well system. TVO’s tethering system was installed to allow wellhead fatigue to be managed with the rig BOPs installed and to provide stability to the well system during critical operations. This allowed operations to be successfully completed on a well with potentially elevated risk

“When there is no solution, we design one,” says TVO Vice President Kevin Chell.

“This project shows how making minor adjustments to our Hercules technology delivered major results, helping overcome significant technical challenges in relatively deep water,” he says.

For more than a decade, TVO solutions have been integral to improving offshore safety and solving complex technical and operational challenges in demanding environments, supporting projects in the Gulf of America, North Sea, Australasia, and South America.

About Trendsetter Vulcan Offshore

Trendsetter Vulcan Offshore (TVO) is an innovative engineering company providing cutting edge solutions for today’s offshore industry. TVO enables its customers to tackle tough challenges with cost-effective and robust solutions. https://trendsettervulcanoffshore.com/