Page 65: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Mar/Apr 2026)

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TECH FEATURE INTERVENTION

All images courtesy Aquaterra Energy

INTERVENTION,

NOT EXPLORATION:

HOW JACK-UPS HELP UNLOCK VALUE

By Ben Cannell, Innovation Director at Aquaterra Energy alking about untapped value in offshore energy wells into shut in status. The proportion of non-producing typically brings exploration, new wells and new wells now exceeds the North Sea Transition Authority’s developments to mind. But in today’s mature (NSTA) 10% target, while Wood Mackenzie estimates basins, the greatest source of opportunity is of- that around £10 billion of pre-tax value remains locked

T ten neither new nor undiscovered. within existing wells.

Many offshore regions are defned less by exploration potential and more by declining production and ageing

Staging an Intervention infrastructure. APAC is one clear example where, accord- Against this backdrop, well intervention offers the fast- ing to Offshore Network, the region is experiencing an- est and lowest-cost route to restoring production from nual recovery declines of around 10%, with approximately existing wells. Where production cannot be recovered, in- 80% of basin felds now in the brownfeld phase and an tervention also provides the only practical means of deliv- estimated 40–50% of well stock currently shut in, repre- ering permanent abandonment and removing long-term senting a striking degree of unrealised potential. liability from the balance sheet.

This picture has many similarities with the UK North In the UK, the NSTA has reported that well interven-

Sea, where ageing infrastructure, rising operating costs and tions can return hydrocarbons to production at operational complex late-life economics have steadily pushed more costs as low as $16 per barrel of oil equivalent. Compared

MARCH/APRIL 2026 OFFSHORE ENGINEER 65